


A New Family

by ashleygrusz



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:18:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 63,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6289672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleygrusz/pseuds/ashleygrusz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Blaise's family died, she has struggled to raise her younger sister without anyone to rely on. But then a freak accident sends both sisters to the past where they meet a group of samurai who just might provide them with the family that they have always missed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is probably going to be a longer story. I have this story posted on fanfiction.net and inkitt.com under the same title and username.
> 
> And just as a warning, the Shinsengumi boys are going to be very important in this story. But I like to keep my stories relatively realistic (note the relatively), so it will take a few chapters before they show up in the story.

Blaise thought about the rare day off that she would have this Saturday as she walked home. Night had already fallen, and it would probably be considered dangerous for most girls her age to be out at this hour, but Blaise didn't feel afraid. She had been taught how to take care of herself and she had used those skills every for the last three years.

Besides, even if she was worried, she wouldn't have stopped moving. She had promised her sister that she would be home to eat dinner together, and lying to her sister was the one thing that she refused to do, regardless of how hard it may be to keep her word at times.

When she finally arrived home, she was quickly greeted by her enthusiastic five-year-old sister. Bella had been waiting all night for her big sister to get home and had begun to think that she would break her promise about eating together. It wasn't something that usually happened, but sometimes Blaise would have to work late at night to the point that she wouldn't be able to see Bella until the next morning and would have to break a promise.

But now the two sisters were both home, and they would make the best of it. Blaise was tired from a long day of working, but she still managed to help Bella complete all of her homework and catch up on what was happening in her life.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Blaise was stuck at the office doing paperwork. It wasn't exactly fun, but at least it was easy. So easy that her mind began to wander to the night before.

Right before she tucked Bella in, she had asked her if she wanted to go to the park on Saturday. Remembering how the little girl's face had lit up at the idea made Blaise feel as though all of the struggles that she had gone to keep the two of them together were all worth it.

Blaise and Bella were orphans. Their parents had died in a car accident three years ago. After that, their mother's relatives had refused to take them in because they were half-white. Their mother had been Cherokee and her family had disowned her when she chose to marry a white man instead of a man who was at least from another tribe. Their father had no relatives.

When Social Services realized that it was just the two of them, they had wanted to separate Blaise and Bella so that they could have Blaise placed in an orphanage and Bella adopted by another family.

Blaise would have allowed them to do so if not for the fact that Bella had begged her not to. She had found out at their parents' funeral, and when she realized that she wouldn't see her big sister anymore, she had screamed and cried that she wanted to stay together.

Those words had caused Blaise to drop out of high school in order to work. While everyone around her had doubted that a fourteen-year-old could raise a two-year-old on her own, she had refused to back down. She hadn't wanted to be separated from Bella either and when she saw her sister crying, she lost the will to let go of her.

Luckily for her, Blaise's father had been a self-defense instructor. He had taught her several different forms of martial arts, including kendo, iaido, karate, boxing and judo. On top of that, he had taught her how to use knives and swords, though he had been hesitant at first, after seeing how eager his eldest daughter was to learn, he taught her everything that he knew, and even had a friend of his show her how to use a gun. At the time, he had said that it was for the sake of her own protection, but after his death, she found another use for these skills.

Blaise became a bodyguard.

Her company had been skeptical at first, but had quickly learned that she was well-trained and desperate enough to take on just about any job. On top of that, her young age made her an ideal bodyguard for those who didn't want anyone to know that they needed a bodyguard. Instead, they were able to say that she was their cousin or niece visiting for a short time.

It wasn't easy, but the two sisters had managed to create a comfortable life together, and Blaise had never regretted her choice, even when people tried to get in the way of that peaceful life.

Like her boss right now, who had just asked her to take a job on Saturday night when he had assured her that she would have the day to herself. Upon hearing her immediate refusal, he knew that bribery would work better than cajoling.

"C'mon Blaise, it's just one night. You can take the brat out for the day and when it gets dark head out. I'll pay you triple if you do this job."

Upon hearing the last sentence, Blaise hesitated. That was a lot of money, and she had been meaning to set up a savings account of some kind so that if anything happened on one of her jobs, Bella would be able to support herself for a little while.

"Fine, but you owe me. And I get next weekend off, with pay."

Her boss was quick to agree.

The next day, as Blaise and Bella were getting ready to go to the park, she began to wonder just who her client was. Her boss had always been a penny-pincher and now here he was, giving her money like it was going out of style. The client had to be important.

With this thought, Blaise knew that she would have to take her tools with her to the park. She wouldn't have time to stop at home, so while Bella got herself dressed, Blaise packed a bag with knives, sharpening tools and a set of Japanese swords.

The items were strange for a bodyguard, but Blaise liked to be prepared and many of her clients disliked it when she used guns. They had hired her so that no one would know that she was a bodyguard and guns were harder to conceal than knives or a sword, and louder.

Of course, she packed a gun and several boxes of bullets as well, but she knew that she likely wouldn't be given the opportunity to use them. The bag was heavy, but Blaise was used to it.

She didn't know that those supplies would soon save her life.


	3. Chapter 3

As Blaise and Bella walked to the park, they chatted about nothing, but they both enjoyed it. Blaise had been busy lately, and so the two hadn't had a lot of time to hang out. The giddiness that they both felt at the feeling of being together made it easy for both of them to ignore the bag slung over Blaise's shoulder, and everything that it meant.

Most girls Blaise's age wouldn't enjoy such a trip, but she was twelve years older than her sister and had always been more of a mother to the girl than the sister, even when their parents were still alive. Their parents had been good people, but both of them had been very busy due to their love for their jobs. If not for Blaise's love of martial arts, she might not have seen her father for weeks while he was working.

Due to this environment, Blaise had often stepped up and taken care of Bella as a child, so it shouldn't have really surprised people so much when she chose to do so permanently. But it did.

Even more, they were shocked at how much Blaise seemed to enjoy her new responsibility. Oh, she was tired often from having to work and raise a young child. But she still smiled, and anyone who looked at her could tell that regardless of blood ties, Bella was her daughter. They could see it in her care for the child, and her obvious struggle to keep them both together and happy.

Today was no different. The two girls played in the park, and Blaise ignored the stares and petty rumors that had sprung up about Bella really being her daughter but being adopted by her parents to save her the humiliation. Assholes.

A little past noon, Bella decided that she wanted to explore the small bit of forest that bordered the park. Most people would have refused immediately, but their parents had bonded through their love of nature. It was how the two had met, and they had instilled that same love into both of their daughters, despite their premature death.

As a result, both Blaise and Bella were experienced hikers, and Blaise thought that such an excursion would be a good idea for the two of them to spend time with each other, and for them to remember their parents. Such an idea probably would have seemed cruel to others, but Blaise had been raised by a woman who, while not subscribing to any one religion, had taught her daughter to respect the spirits' of the dead. Blaise believed that those spirits deserved more than sadness for their death, but should also be remembered with the happiness that had hopefully imbued their lives as well. And so, she taught Bella to remember the few happy times she had shared with their parents, even while she still missed them.

As they walked, they allowed their conversation to fluctuate, sometimes being nonstop chatter to comfortable silence surrounded by nature. It didn't bother either of them.

Then, they came upon a small river being fed a waterfall. Bella was delighted but Blaise was shocked. For years she had heard rumors about this river. It was a local legend that this river could somehow save people who had already died. No one was certain exactly how this was supposed to happen. Some said that the water could bring them back to life. Others said that it could ensure that their souls reached Heaven.

While many people in the area knew about this legend, very few of them believed it, particularly since no one had ever managed to find this river that came from a waterfall. Blaise had always believed that if it had ever existed, it had probably been destroyed in order for buildings or roads to be built on top of it. Until now.

As she was pondering the surprising fact that the river actually existed, she saw Bella leaning close to the river. This didn't concern her as the current wasn't very strong and the river wasn't deep until she realized that there was a cracked branch hanging above Bella's head.

It had probably been broken by a strong wind or maybe the heavy snows that had fallen earlier in the year, but either way, it looked like it had decided that today was the day that it finally fell. As she saw it begin to descend towards Bella, Blaise ran towards her, but slipped on one of the stones and both of the sisters fell into the water.

Once submerged, Blaise found that she couldn't kick her way back to the surface, something that deeply confused her due to the fact that she could still tell that the river wasn't strong. Despite this she still couldn't do anything to save herself or her sister despite fighting for several minutes.

She refused to accept the fact that she couldn't save her sister, even as she began to lose consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

Blaise woke up slowly to find herself lying on the grass being baked alive by the sun. At first she didn't attempt to move, the haziness of sleep preventing her from worrying.

However, when she realized that she was soaked to the skin, she remembered everything that had happened and sat up in a panic until she realized that her sister was curled up in a ball beside her.

After checking that Bella was simply unconscious, she slowly stood up so that she could attempt to figure out just where the two of them had ended up.

_I suppose that we must had drifted downriver from where we fell, but just how far did we drift. It must have been rather far, I've never seen a place this quiet in our area, not even on the reservation. And it looks like it's been at least a day since we fell into the water. We're lucky that we didn't drown._

Blaise's speculation ended when she heard Bella begin to stir behind her. After assuring the young girl that she would figure out where they were, Blaise led her up the small hill across from the hill, rationalizing that she couldn't risk them being swept away by the river again.

Once they reached the top of the hill, they found a small dirt road. As Blaise stared at it trying to figure out just what town in America had roads like that, she noticed two women coming down the road. This wouldn't have been odd, except that the clothes they were wearing looked outdated.

Blaise vaguely recognized the clothes as a type of kimono that she had seen clients wear when she was guarding them, but she had never thought that people still wore them outside of special occasions. For a few minutes, she simply stared before she got up the courage to call out to them.

As she did, both women looked scared. When they finally spoke, Blaise was even more shocked.

Blaise's company mostly guarded the heads of foreign companies or members of their governments, and so she had a working knowledge of several other languages. She was far from fluent, but she had to be able to at least understand the basics of their languages in order to communicate while on duty.

And these two women had just spoken Japanese.

It took a few moments for Blaise to gather her composure back, but once she had, she managed to stutter out a sentence in broken Japanese asking where they were.

The women looked at her strangely, but eventually told her that they were near Edo and then said some more that Blaise couldn't quite understand. It probably wouldn't have mattered if they had replied with the limited vocabulary that Blaise could understand. After hearing their location, Blaise barely had the presence of mind to thank the women for their time before she grabbed her younger sister's hand and led her into a small copse of trees.

As they walked, Bella began to feel afraid for the first time since she had woken up. Blaise was a person who had always enjoyed being quiet, but now she wasn't just being quiet, she looked scared.

Her sister was never scared. This was a thought that Bella had always believed with all of her childish innocence, but now it was being called into question, prompting her to desperately ask, "Where are we? You know, right?"

"I'm not sure where we are, but I promise that I'll keep us safe. Just give me a few minutes to think," Blaise replied after seeing the fear creeping into her sister's eyes. Believing her words, Bella quickly calmed down as Blaise sat against a tree and pulled Bella onto her lap while she thought.

 _Okay, I told Bella that I'd get us out of here, but just_ _ **how**_ _am I going to do that when I don't understand anything?_

_Those women said that we are near Edo, but I thought that Edo was the name of a Japanese city that had ceased to exist decades ago. And what's more, why were those women wearing kimono?_

_I've had to wear the damn things in the past for jobs protecting Japanese clients, so I know that they are heavy as hell and hard to move in. Yet those women seemed so comfortable in them._

_Actually, now that I think about it, they looked surprised when they saw my clothes. I know that I'm not all that well-dressed, but jeans and a t-shirt aren't exactly startling clothing. So why were they surprised?_

_Well, I suppose that the first thing I should do is try to find a town and get someone more normal to tell me where we really are. Those women said we are near Edo, but even though it's impossible, they were walking somewhere, so there must be a town or something somewhere down the road._

Once Blaise resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't come up with any answers by sitting against a tree, she decided to walk along the road and hopefully find someone who could give her answers.

Looking down into her sister's trusting eyes, she said, "I don't know where we are, but those women must have been walking somewhere. Since they were walking instead of taking a car or bus, that somewhere must be close, so why don't we try to find it and figure out how to get home?"

Bella was so relieved to see the look of helplessness leave her big sister's face that she would have agreed to go anywhere she said to go, not that that was unusual. Bella had always followed Blaise, even before she had lost her parents. After all, Blaise had always exuded an aura of confidence that had made Bella feel safe and had always sworn to protect Bella and now that she was in a strange place, she would believe in her sister's words even more.

They were all that each other had left after all.


	5. Chapter 5

Before the two sisters left their position in the trees, Blaise reached into her bag and quickly strapped her katana to her waist, figuring that if someone asked, she could always say that she was a cosplayer like those two women earlier. Blaise had noticed earlier that she couldn't hear any cars from the road and wondered if a town really was nearby or if the two women were going to meet someone with a car. If so, it could take some time for them to find other people and Blaise would much rather risk getting arrested for carrying a weapon than be killed because she hadn't been able to reach said weapon fast enough.

After that, Blaise made sure that the laces of Bella's sneakers were tight so that the little girl wouldn't be tempted to kick them off while they walked. It might end up being a very long walk, and it would be worse if the child didn't have shoes to keep her from getting blisters, especially since Blaise knew that she wouldn't be able to carry Bella for more than a few hours.

Once those things were taken care of, Blaise once more took hold of Bella's hand and led her down the road.

After several hours had passed, Blaise began to think that maybe the road didn't actually go anywhere and considered turning back in order to at least get back to wherever the two women had come from. She assumed that they must have met up with someone who would drive them to their final destination but that they must have at least come from a rest stop of some kind.

But even though Blaise considered the option, she knew that they couldn't turn back now. The sun was about to go down and both sisters were hungry.

If they got caught on this road without any streetlights, they would be an easy target for any rapist or murderer who cared. Most girls Blaise's age wouldn't have been so concerned about it, but Blaise had worked as a bodyguard for almost four years now and she had seen that there were terrible people in the world and knew that while she could probably beat them during the day when she could see clearly, fighting at night without any light was much more difficult and they would likely have much more experience at it than she did.

No, they couldn't go back. Even if they weren't attacked, Blaise knew that they would never make it. The two sisters had been walking for hours without eating anything. Blaise might have been able to keep it up for a while since she had gone hungry after her parents' deaths when she didn't have enough money for food, but Bella was a different story.

During those times, Blaise had made sure that the little girl ate whatever food that she could scrounge up and so had little experience with hunger until now. While Bella hadn't once complained, Blaise knew that her sister was mature for her age and wouldn't complain when she already knew that her big sister was trying her best.

It had been like that ever since their parents died. Bella hadn't even been two years old yet, but she had been able to understand that her big sister would do the best that she could and so she never complained, knowing that it would make Blaise doubt her decision to raise Bella herself, and feel guilty for not doing well enough.

Despite this, Blaise knew that this was no easy walk, especially for a child as young as Bella, but she couldn't carry her anymore. She had done so for several hours earlier and it had exhausted her.

Just as Blaise was thinking that she would have to search through the woods in order to see if she could find any plants that she knew were edible, she saw a small building on the road ahead.

Blaise knew that she didn't have any money, but she hoped that the people who lived there would at least be kind enough to not allow a young child to starve. If it came down to it, she could always stay there for a short time and work in exchange for food for herself and her sister.

However, as the two sisters came closer to the house, she saw a man outside of it being harassed by men in ragged clothes, all holding katanas much like her own.

Blaise considered just leaving them to their own devices and trying to sneak around them, but she couldn't see any other houses nearby and knew that this was probably her last shot at getting some real food into her sister's stomach. Besides, Blaise might have been jaded by her years of fighting to keep her sister alive and working as a bodyguard, even she would be haunted by the idea of leaving an old man to be robbed and possibly killed simply for trying to live his life.

With her decision made for her, Blaise began to look at the nearby forest for a good tree. She finally found one that had plenty of strong branches on the tree and it looked easy to climb.

Blaise picked Bella up and placed her on one of the branches in the tree and left her with the instructions that if any of the men by the house came near the tree, she was to climb up to the top of the tree, figuring that if the men did try to climb after her, the branches at the top of the tree would be too weak to support their weight the same way they would be able to support Bella.

With that done, Blaise dropped her bag next to the tree with a sigh of pleasure at not having to carry it any longer, and then walked up behind the men, and told them to leave.

When they all turned to her, they jeered and told her that she should mind her own business. All of them spoke in fluent Japanese, but Blaise wasn't as shocked as she was earlier due to their strange clothing and her encounter with the women earlier.

Instead of backing down like they clearly expected her to, Blaise stepped forward into the puddle of light around the shop. Once she was in the light, the men all began to laugh.

Once the man who was clearly the leader had finished laughing his ass off, he mockingly asked her, "What's a little girl like you going to do about it? I'll make you a deal. Be a nice girl and I'll let you warm my bed for me tonight."

Upon hearing that disgusting suggestion, Blaise slid her sword out of its sheath and replied, "I'm afraid that that won't be possible, as it will be rather difficult for me to share a bed with an injured man."

The leader's cheeks flushed red at the insult, and he drew his sword as well, saying, "You're going to regret not taking me up on my offer like a good little girl. You'd have lived a little longer."

As he lunged at her, Blaise saw that his sword skills weren't at all good. He probably simply carried the sword in order to bully unarmed people into obeying him. But Blaise wasn't unarmed, and her father had ensured that she knew more about fighting than just about anyone else.

As soon as he lunged, Blaise adjusted her grip on her so that she could dodge his attack and strike the hilt of his sword, cutting his hand open and causing him to drop the sword.

She had been prepared to leave it at that, but when he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a dagger, Blaise knew that he wouldn't let this fight go so easily. Normally, Blaise would have had more patience, but she was tired, hungry and worried about her younger sister, so she decided to simply kill the man.

As her sword pierced his heart, the leader looked shocked that such a small girl had been able to kill him. He wasn't the only one.

His men stared at the scene in front of them in shock, until Blaise pulled her sword out of their leader's chest and asked them calmly, "So would any of the rest of you like to suggest that I warm your bed tonight? Or will you simply continue on your way without bothering me?"

While Blaise was not exactly good with other languages, one of the most important lessons of being a bodyguard was knowing how to bluff. Blaise knew that she was a good swordsman, but she also knew that she would have difficulty fighting so many people all at the same time, especially after she had used up so much of her energy simply to get to this house.

But these men didn't know that, and Blaise had always learned how to issue threats in whatever language her clients spoke so that of any of their enemies attempted to attack them, she might be able to bluff her way out of it. Japanese was no different, and so she was able to clearly and easily threaten these men.

After the display that they had seen earlier, they didn't doubt her strength and none of them wanted to challenge her. As Blaise watched them run away from her, she knew that her earlier assessment of the leader was also true of all of his men. They were weak but carried swords and pretended to be string in order to bully innocent people.

After they had gone, Blaise looked towards the house in time to see an old woman, probably his wife, come out to check on him.

Once she had been assured that her husband wasn't injured, they both turned to Blaise.

The man stepped forward slowly and spoke in fluent Japanese.

"Thank you for fighting those ronin on our behalf. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know."

While Blaise couldn't easily carry on a conversation in Japanese, these were words that she had occasionally heard from her clients. She had always refused their help due to her own pride, but as she looked at the tree that she had had Bella climb, she knew that this wasn't the time for such things.

And so she ignored the looks of slight fear on the couple's faces, she took a moment to remember the proper words, Blaise was able to slowly, and with a strong accent, say, "If you could spare some food for us and possibly give us a place to sleep tonight, I would be very grateful."

Though they still seemed slightly concerned, the man asked, "Us?"

As though Bella knew what they were discussing, she hurriedly climbed down the tree and proceeded to drag her sister's bag towards the house. Of course Blaise knew that that was ridiculous. She herself had only learned Japanese for the sake of her job and never used it at home, so there was no way that Bella could understand. She probably just figured that it was safe to come down now that the ronin were gone.

Once the woman saw Bella, she immediately gasped while her husband looked startled.

Slightly concerned by the looks on their faces, Blaise stepped forward to take her bag from Bella and grasped her hand in her own, saying stuntedly, "If it's too much trouble then we can just go."

Upon hearing this, the man quickly said, "Nonsense. A child like that shouldn't be outside at night. Please come in and we will get the two of you some food."

With this confirmation, Blaise led her sister into the house. As she walked, she noticed the couple's surprise when they looked at her. Trying to figure out the cause, she realized that they were both staring at her chest.

_Oh, during the fight, they couldn't see my chest and assumed that I was a man. I guess I can't blame them. In my town most of the girls would rather die than let some blood mess up their manicures. It was always something that Dad laughed about, how I wasn't half as squeamish as all the other girls my age. Mom just said that Dad had turned me into his little soldier and forbade him from doing the same to Bella, saying that she wanted at least one daughter who acted like a daughter. Then they'd both laugh._

Blaise was distracted from those happy thoughts when the woman brought in two trays of food for herself and Bella. She knew that it was simple fare from the fact that before the sisters began eating, the man had told them, "I apologize that we aren't able to give you anything better, particularly as my wife and I own a small shop selling food to passing travelers. However, we have put many of our ingredients away for the night. If you desire something more, we will of course do our best to accommodate you."

As he said those words, Blaise realized the reason that both he and his wife were acting so wary of the two. The tone that the man used with Blaise was the same tone he used with the ronin.

They thought that Blaise had come here to extort them.

Blaise could admit that it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. She had seen a lot of bad things in her years as a bodyguard, and even worse things from being a teenager trying to raise a young child in a bad neighborhood. She'd done some of those bad things. But the difference between Blaise and those ronin was that Blaise still felt guilt over those actions. She had done them out of desperation and she knew that if she could go back and change them, she would do the same thing all over again, even if it meant that she would never be able to rid herself of the guilt that those actions had left her with. She would do so because they were the only way that Blaise could keep her little sister alive.

So, if it was a matter of saving Bella's life, Blaise would have probably stolen their food. She'd have regretted it only because it was the only option that she would have had. But she'd have never let go of the guilt it would cause her, because sometimes she thought that the guilt that she felt was the only thing that separated her from men like the ronin she had fought earlier.

But, as she hadn't had to do so, she wanted to put the man and his wife at ease, to assure them that she meant them no harm. And so, after she took a moment to remember the language, she said, in stunted Japanese, "This is perfect. It is more than I expected, and I am glad that I was able to help you when you were in trouble. And please don't worry, I only intend to stay for the night before we head out again."

These words obviously relaxed the elderly couple, probably because they could hear the sincerity behind the words. And they were true. Blaise may have done bad things, but she hated the thought of harming innocents, only doing it herself when absolutely necessary to ensure her sister's survival. And now, seeing how kind these people were, she was glad that they hadn't been harmed.

After they got over their initial fear, the women handed chopsticks to Blaise and a spoon to Bella, as well as trays full of fish, rice and some sort of vegetable. Was it seaweed?

Either way, neither girl really cared after having to walk all day without anything to eat. It took some time for Blaise to figure out how to eat rice with chopsticks, having only used them with more solid food in the past, but she quickly figured it out, though she had to stop every so often to wipe the food off of Bella's face. The little girl wasn't a neat eater at home, and eating foreign foods with only a spoon didn't help matters.

As the two sisters ate, the elderly man introduced himself as Abe Taro and his wife as Abe Ai. Upon hearing the same name being said first for both of them, Blaise recalled that Japanese people said their surnames first, which only solidified her theory that she and Bella might really be in Japan.

Not noticing Blaise's sudden revelation, he went on to inform her that they owned a small shop that sold food to travelers coming to or from Edo. However, after the girls had finished eating, he allowed his curiosity to come to light, deciding that the strange girl who had saved him seemed safe enough, he asked her, "Excuse me, but may I ask what you and the young girl are doing traveling all by yourselves?"

After Blaise figured out what he had said, it took a couple minutes, she'd never really had to hold long conversations in Japanese, okay, she panicked, trying to figure out what an appropriate reply would be.

When she realized that she needed time to figure out exactly what kind of mess she had gotten herself into, she decided to stall for time by asking, "I apologize but that is a rather long story. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to be able to take a bath before I speak of it."

Though Taro looked surprised, Blaise was relieved when his wife readily led the two girls to the bath. It might not have a very appropriate question, but she desperately needed to time to think about what had happened and to formulate some kind of plan before she gave them any kind of answer. Besides, both she and Bella were covered in dirt from the long day, and blood had stained Blaise's clothes from her fight with the ronin.

If nothing else, it was a believable excuse.


	6. Chapter 6

As Ai showed Blaise and Bella to the bath, she offered to take their dirty clothes in order to clean them and bring them some fresh ones. Blaise normally never would have accepted such charity, but she was also smart enough to know that it was the best idea she had heard all night, so she readily accepted.

Once Blaise had given the woman their dirty clothes with the promise of Ai leaving clean ones outside of the door, both sisters eagerly began to clean themselves.

While Bella was normally a pain in the ass to get into the bath, even she didn't want to be quite this filthy, and so sat through her big sister's thorough scrubbing without complaint.

After Blaise had ensured that they were both spotless, she told Bella to just soak in the tub with her. After the day that the two had had, they were both practically euphoric to have full stomachs, be clean and no longer be moving. Now, their tired muscles were even being allowed to soak in warm water.

Neither of them could could find anything to complain about with that.

However, this also gave Blaise the time to think about the situation that the two sisters had found themselves in. Bella had long since learned that her sister often needed quiet time on order to think, so she quietly played with the water while Blaise thought things over.

_Based on how the people here are dressing and speaking, we are definitely in Japan. I could accept that as some kind of kidnapping gone wrong after we passed out._

_But what I can't figure out is how outdated everything is here. It's starting to look as though we've somehow been thrown into the past as well. I wanted to think that it was just some kind of cosplay convention, or some strange Amish society, but now there is too much evidence saying that those theories are bull._

_For one thing, everybody that I've seen so far has been wearing traditional clothing. While I've had to do the same on some jobs, that was because they were formal occasions. Most Japanese wear normal clothes nowadays, so it doesn't make sense for so many people to dress like this._

_Also, those ronin were actually called ronin, as in rogue samurai. I doubt that's a very common term in the present, unless it's as an insult. But Taro used it in anger, but as though it were an everyday problem. Not to mention that those guys were using swords. I mean, I use a sword and knives, but that's because I'm hired as an_ _ **inconspicuous**_ _guard. Guns are too bulky to be carried around without being noticed. I mean, normal people won't notice, but people who have been trained would, so I can't carry them a lot of the time. Regardless of how weak they were, even street gangs can get guns easily enough, The only reason for those guys not to carry them was if they hadn't been invented yet._

_Also, there doesn't seem to be much technology here. The road we came on had no tire tracks. Even if it's a rural town, car tracks would last for a long time on a dirt road like that. Not to mention that I didn't even see any litter on the sides of it, instead there was a forest. Not the small copses of woods that are so common nowadays, but actual woods, as in the kind you get lost in._

_And this house has a wooden tub for a bath. I don't even see any electric lights. I'd assume that it was just this family, but I don't see any pollution either._

_I can actually see the stars without having to peer through smog and that river that we drank from earlier tasted totally pure. There was no sign that anything had been dumped into it._

_If it was only one thing or the other, I'd believe that it was just an anomaly, but when there is so much evidence, I can't think of any other reason for it. But how did it happen? I'm pretty sure I'd remember getting into a time machine, or, more likely, laughing until my lungs came up at the very idea that such an invention even existed._

_So how did we get here? All we did was nearly drown in a river…_

Suddenly, Blaise jerked upright from her position of lounging against the side of the tub, causing some of the water to overflow and causing Bella to let out a startled yelp. Despite this, Blaise still said nothing, thinking about a legend that she had long since thought to be ridiculous.

_The legends all say that that river we fell into could allow you to save people who were dead, but no one knew how._

_Because the answer was something that no one would believe._

_But, what better way to save the dead than to prevent them from dying in the first place? What if you could go back to the past and warn them away from the actions that had caused their death in the first place?_

_I feel like I've gone insane, but it's the only explanation that I can think of that makes even the slightest bit of sense._

As Blaise finally managed to solve some of the puzzle, she realized just how much she had surprised her sister, and hurried to reassure her that everything was okay, and that she had figured out what had happened, she just needed a little more time to think. And so, calming the little girl that she had unwittingly frightened, she resumed her pondering of the situation.

_The one question that I have now is, why this time period? I don't know anyone from here, and I can't do anything to solve their deaths because I don't know how they died, though I can guess._

_Why weren't we sent back to the day that Mom and Dad died? I could have saved them._

_But, even though we weren't taken their initially, maybe I could try again. Try to go back to that day and save them._

_But could I do it? If I did that, I'd still have them, but could I go back to a normal life after everything that I've seen and done since they died?_

_Would they want me to? If I did this, I'd be defying their fate. My parents never really kept to any religion, instead creating their own set of beliefs by absorbing them from many religions._

_But they always told me that they believed that everything happened for a reason. Would they want me to defy that belief? And would it even work?_

_If I tried to save them, I would have to risk drowning in the wrong river, or dying on that day. I'm not afraid of death, but there is also Bella._

_She's been so quiet ever since we took our bath, but I can tell that she's watching me. She'd never let me leave her, she'd want to come with me. But then she could die too, and I don't know if we'd be able to get back to our original time._

_I can't risk it. I swore that I would protect Bella. It's one of the main reasons that I learned to fight in the first place, to be able to protect her from anything or anyone who tried to hurt her._

_And as much as I want to see them again, I can't risk her life. It's not what either of them would have wanted either._

_So what do I do now? It's not like we have much to go back to. I have my job, but it's not like anyone is waiting for us._

_But maybe we shouldn't go back. That's just as dangerous as going back to save Mom and Dad. We could drown in the wrong river or go to a different time entirely._

_So, we'll stay here, I guess. But where will we go? We can't stay here forever._

_But the first problem is language. I can speak a little Japanese, but only the basics. I could only understand a little of what was said while we were eating. And Bella couldn't understand any of it. I will need to learn more fluent Japanese, and also teach Bella this new language._

_After that, I need to figure out how we will live. I don't know exactly what time period this is, but I could tell just from the Abe family that women are still subjugated in this time. I won't be able to find work easily here. Also, I know that Japan wasn't very friendly towards foreigners for many years. Those will probably be our most serious problems._

_But, they might not know that we are foreigners. Our skin tone isn't that much different from theirs, and we both have black hair. Bella even had brown eyes. It might be stereotype, but those are some of the most common physical attributes of the Japanese. I inherited my father's grey eyes, and they are pretty light, almost colorless. Not exactly something normal here, but maybe if I learned fluent Japanese, lost my accent and walked more confidently, no one would notice?_

_After all, we aren't exactly tall, which also works in our favor. I mean, I'm just fairly five feet, and Bella's always been small for her age. We probably won't draw much attention from that angle._

_But what about how we will live? In time periods like this one, pretty much all of the work was done by men. Women could only really become wives or, ugh, prostitutes._

_No way is that last one happening, and I don't really want to get married to a stranger._

_But what if they couldn't tell that I was a girl. I've always had curves, but Japanese clothing is usually pretty baggy. My hips aren't that wide, and if I wrapped a cloth or something around my chest, it would still be round, but if it was tight enough, it might not be noticeable through clothing._

_If I did that, I could probably still find work as a bodyguard. Or even as an assistant to some shop owner. Either way, I'd be able to keep me and Bella alive._

_Now that that's decided, I just need to figure out what to say to the couple out there. I don't want to lie to them after they have helped us, but I can't tell them the truth either…_

After several more minutes of pondering, Blaise managed to come up with a story that, while still a lie, was close enough to the truth to soothe her conscience. Now she just had to give them a good enough performance for them to believe her.


	7. Chapter 7

After Blaise had dressed both herself and Bella in the light yukata that had been left outside the bathroom door, she quickly searched for Taro and Ai.

She found them sitting in the same room that Blaise and Bella had eaten in earlier. Upon seeing the two girls, Taro called out to them and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but now that you have had your bath, could you please tell us exactly what two young girls were doing traveling alone in strange clothing?"

Blaise could tell that his question was fueled mostly by curiosity from the way that he and his wife kept looking at them, and so took no offense. Instead of replying, she led Bella into the room and sat down.

Blaise had already told Bella not to speak while she was explaining things to the couple. She had also gone over in her head the story that she would tell them, not so that she could remember it, but so she could translate it into Japanese with ease.

Calling it back into her mind, she began to speak.

"My name is Clearwater Blaise, and this is my younger sister Clearwater Bella. Our father was a foreigner who moved to Japan after studying its martial arts.

"Once here, he opened a dojo and eventually married our mother. Due to his often speaking his native language at home, Bella and I sometimes have difficulty speaking in Japanese.

"Our parents both died a short while ago. We were traveling to Edo in order to find a relative of our mother's who is supposed to be living there.

"However, I was concerned about what would happen if two girls traveled alone, so I dressed us in our father's clothes so that we would hopefully be mistaken for boys. I also took my father's swords for added protection.

"As you saw earlier, I do know how to use them. This is due to the fact that my father was concerned that he would have to travel for a private lesson and would leave our family defenseless. For this reason, he taught me how to use his sword when he was gone.

"While we were traveling, we came across your shop, and I didn't wish to see an innocent family under attack, so I decided to help you. Now that you know this, I hope that you will still allow us to stay in your home for the night before we continue on our journey."

After Blaise's story was finished, Ai rose and embraced the two of them, saying something along the lines of how difficult it must have been for them, though Blaise couldn't make out exactly what was said.

On the other side of the room, Taro cleared his throat and said, "It is difficult for orphans to live easily, especially when they have foreign blood. I'm impressed that you have done so well. You may stay here for as long as you need to. Edo is a large place and it may be difficult for you to find your relatives. Until then, please stay with us."

After that, Blaise learned that Taro and Ai had had two sons who had since moved out to live with their own families. She also learned that they weren't at all far from Edo, just a few minutes walk. The only reason Blaise hadn't been able to see it was because of a hill that had hidden it from sight.

Blaise would have stayed and talked with this generous couple for longer, but after such a long and confusing day, both she and Bella were exhausted. Ai showed them to a room that they could use for the night.

Once they were alone, Bella immediately tried to climb into the futon and sleep. Blaise felt bad about it, but she knew that the two of them had to talk before they could sleep, so she stopped Bella and made her pay attention.

"Bella, you've probably figured out by now that we aren't at home."

"Yeah, this place is strange. Everyone talks weirdly and I can't understand it."

"That's right. They talk differently than we do. Do you remember our neighbors, the Fuentes?"

"Yeah, you said that they spoke in Spanish, but I only spoke in English, so I didn't know what they were saying."

"That's right. You see Bella, the people hear speak something a little different than English and Spanish. They speak Japanese, and we are both going to need to learn how to speak it too."

Hearing this, Bella looked up at Blaise and asked, "But if we are going back home, then why do we have to learn it?"

This was the moment that had concerned Blaise from the moment that she realized where they were, both because it was hard to believe, but also because she had to decide how much she could tell her sister. Bella was a good girl, and Blaise hated keeping things from her, but five-year-old girls aren't exactly known for their ability to keep secrets. Blaise couldn't take the risk that Bella would tell someone the truth and bring them any unnecessary attention. She had to water down the truth, at least until Bella was older.

"Bella, I don't think that we can go back home. I'm sorry, but I think that we have to live here from now on. I know that it's different, but I promise that you won't be alone, and you'll get used to it. Please just give it a chance."

Bella surprised Blaise by taking in this new information with a solemn expression. What Blaise didn't realize was that Bella didn't really care. Back home hadn't been that great because she couldn't see her big sister very often, but here, she was always with her. Blaise had always been the most important person to Bella, more so after their parents' deaths. Bella wouldn't mind going anywhere so long as Blaise was with her. The only problem that she **did** have was, "Then does that mean that I have to go to school to learn this stuff?"

Blaise was so startled that she burst out laughing at the disgruntled expression on her sister's face. When she finally stopped laughing, she replied, "No, there isn't a school for this stuff. You will have to learn it by having me teach it to you and by listening to everyone else. Actually, I think it would be a good idea for you to only speak in English to me, and only when no one else can hear you, okay? If we're in public, then you can just whisper it into my ear. Also, they don't have refrigerators or cars here, so please don't mention them, alright?"

"Okay, but why can't I talk to anybody else?"

"You can talk to other people, but only once you learn Japanese, okay? People here aren't very friendly to people who speak English like you and I do, and I don't want them to bully us, so only speak to me in English."

"Okay, but can I go to sleep now?"

Seeing the pleading expression on her little sister's face, Blaise had to hold back a laugh, but understood the urge, as she could feel her own eyelids drooping. Still, this day had been strange, but, as she climbed into the single futon with her sister, Blaise knew that it hadn't really been such a bad day.

The next morning, Blaise woke up early. She was still tired from the day before, but she had always had to get up early for work and to get Bella to school on time. Now, it was simply habit to wake up early, even without an alarm.

As she got up, she wondered what she should do for clothes for a few minutes, until she heard the sound of someone chopping wood outside of her room.

Carefully disentangling herself from Bella, she strapped on her sword and headed outside to find the source of the noise.

Blaise quickly saw Taro trying to chop wood, and was alarmed. After all Taro and Ai had to be in their sixties, at least. He had no business chopping wood at his age.

Blaise quickly walked up to him and told him that she would chop the rest of the wood. Taro tried to disagree on account of Blaise being female, but was quickly overruled by Blaise telling him that she was stronger than most girls due to her training in swordship.

Seeing from her eyes that Blaise wouldn't be giving this up easily, he quickly acquiesced, though his hurting back may also have had something to do with it.

As Blaise began to chop the large pile of wood, Bella woke up alone. She would have been scared, but she was used to her sister's habit of waking early and to Blaise not always being home when she woke up.

So, instead of panicking, Bella walked downstairs where she found Ai in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Wanting to help, Bella walked up behind her and offered to cut the vegetables. Ai hesitated at first to hand a knife over to such a young child, but looking into Bella's steady eyes, she could tell that she was energetic, but there was also something in her eyes that made Ai believe that she was looking at a much older child, so she handed Bella the knife and kept a close eye on her as they cooked breakfast together.

By the time that Blaise finished chopping the wood, breakfast was ready. The four occupants of the house all ate together. Near the end of breakfast though, Blaise asked Ai if they could have their clothes back. Upon seeing the couple's surprised expressions, she explained, "I don't want to burden you with our presence and I did say that we would leave today. But we can't exactly go out wearing our sleepwear, right?"

"Ah, of course. I'm afraid that I haven't finished washing them yet, though," Ai said apologetically. "However, if you don't mind, I can let you borrow some of our daughter's clothes and then you can return them when you come back to get your own clothes."

After breakfast, Ai dug out two kimonos, one an older kimono that her daughter had worn as a child, and one that she had worn a few years before she married. Both were a little old, but she figured that they would work well enough.

However, when Blaise saw them, she knew that she would have a problem. Her entire plan hinged on being seen as a man, and wearing a kimono into town would ruin that plan. Quickly, she asked Ai, "Actually, do you think that you could bring me some men's clothing?"

Upon seeing the surprise on the older women's face, Blaise quickly explained, "It's just, I know that Edo is close, but it is still a rather large place. It could take us a few hours to find our relatives, and I don't want to risk being caught after dark by some ronin who think that a girl is an easy target. I think that it would be safer if I wore men's clothing in order to avoid that."

Blaise could tell that Ai was still skeptical, but nevertheless, she brought her son's old hakama to Blaise.

The hakama was a bit long for Blaise due to her short stature, but it would do for the time being. The real difficulty was getting the clothes on in the first place.

While the sleeping yukata the girls had worn the night before had been easy enough to put on, Blaise soon found that a child's yukata and a hakama were a very different story. While Blaise had had to wear both in the past, she had always had assistance in putting them on so that she wouldn't embarrass her client by looking like a fool. However, here the only helper was Blaise trying to dress Bella, and she knew that she couldn't ask Ai for help without engendering her suspicion.

Finally, after almost an hour of effort she managed to get Bella dressed in the yukata in what she believed was the proper way, and also tied her hair up in braids. Blaise didn't know if it was an appropriate hairstyle for this era, but both sisters had long hair, Bella's going down to her waist and Blaise's continuing all the way down to the back of her knees. Blaise had always been teased for that, but her mother had always believed that Blaise's hair was the one place where her daughter's femininity showed and, as a result, had always forbade her to cut it. After her death, Blaise had continued to grow out her hair for her mother's sake.

Once Blaise had wrapped up her chest using bandages that she had kept in her bag as supplies for the job that she had had, she eventually figured out how to put on a hakama. Once that was done, she took out a small pocket mirror and looked at her reflection with approval. She still looked very feminine with her hair down as it was, but she knew that it was the style in many past eras of Japan for men to have long hair and hoped that this was one of them. She certainly wasn't going to cut it now. Instead, she tied it back into a high ponytail and grabbed her bag.

Before she left the room, Blaise checked her reflection one last time and saw that her assessment from the night before was correct.

_I might be a D-cup usually, but I don't look it now. Those bandages made me look flatter, and is tight enough that I can feel it, but I don't think that it will restrict my movements or affect my breathing too much. I should be able to fight easily as long as the bandages don't slip._

_But, now I can see what Mom meant about me needing to keep my hair long in order to look like a girl. The clothes probably contribute, but my face looks harder and more masculine with my hair tied back like this. If I had cut if off like I'd wanted to years ago, people only would have been able to tell I was a girl by staring at my chest._

_Either way, I think that this insane plan of mine just might work._

With that thought, Blaise grasped Bella's hand in her own and walked to the door, where she saw Ai and Taro waiting for them. Realizing that it must've taken them a seemingly odd amount of time to get dressed, Blaise quickly gave them an excuse.

"I apologize for the wait. It took a little while for me to get Bella to settle down enough to get her dressed."

"Oh, don't worry about it. You've already spent the night, a few more minutes doesn't make much of a difference," Taro gruffly stated.

"Ah, look good in those clothes. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that you were a man, Clearwater-san," Ai informed her.

"Thank you for all of your help. I will be sure to return these clothes to you before nightfall. And please, if we ever encounter each other again, call me Blaise."

"Of course and good luck finding your relatives, dear."

With that final conversation, Blaise and Bella left, not to find their fictitious relatives, but for Blaise to try to find immediate work in town. That way, she figured, she could return the clothes to Taro and Ai after she bought some men's clothing for herself, and then, if she was lucky, have enough money afterwards to pay for a room at an inn for herself and Bella. After that, she could spend any other money she got on food, and, eventually, clothes for Bella to wear in public.

That was the plan anyway, but after spending several hours searching, Blaise had only been able to find jobs for the next day. Several shops had offered her work despite her accent, wanting her to protect their shops from ronin, but they were against the idea of a young girl being present at those times.

They made it clear. If Blaise wanted to work for them, she needed to leave Bella elsewhere.

The only problem was that they didn't have a home and she couldn't rent a room for Bella to stay in until she got a job. She couldn't just leave Bella somewhere for fear that she could be attacked while away from her sister.

At the end of the day, she considered simply stealing the clothes that they were wearing. After all, if people wouldn't hire Blaise now, they certainly wouldn't do so when they knew that she was a girl. And they would.

They t-shirt and jeans that Blaise had been wearing were not skin-tight, but still tight enough to ensure that everyone around her would know that she was a girl. Her only chance had been to buy male clothes herself and wear them the next day to continue working.

But, she didn't want to steal from the Abes. Despite being from an era where both foreigners and orphans were frequently mistreated and disrespected, they had been kind to the sisters even after discovering that they were both of these things.

Blaise knew that such kindness was rare, in any era. She certainly wasn't going to repay it by stealing from them. Not even she was that low.

Besides, while they had only known the elderly couple for less than a day, Blaise and Bella had both found that they liked the odd couple.

And so, Blaise and Bella began the journey back to the shop with heavy hearts. When they arrived, they saw Ai serving tea to some guests, one of whom threw his glass at her for being too slow to bring it.

Upon seeing this, Blaise drew her sword. Extending it so that the edge just barely pricked the man's skin, she told him in a cold voice, "I believe that you should leave now, sir."

When the man turned, he seemed to want to mock Blaise for just barely being able to speak in such stunted and heavily accented Japanese. However, he thought better of this when Blaise added pressure to her sword, not a lot, but enough to make the man's neck begin to bleed a little.

After looking into Blaise's eyes and realizing that she would happily behead him, he told his friend that they were leaving. However, Blaise also saw that he hadn't paid for his tea or the cup that he had broken, and said, "Don't you think it is rude to order something and then break the container that it is brought in without paying for either. Also, I do believe that you waitress deserves some compensation for having to put up with such action as well, don't you?"

Again, the man wanted to argue, but was too scared to do so with a sword pressed against his throat. Instead he quickly threw down his entire wallet before he and his friend quickly ran away.

After that, Ai turned to Blaise and exclaimed, "Oh my, a young lady like you really shouldn't be getting into fights like that."

"You're not wrong about that, Abe-san. However, such behavior must be corrected before it gets out of hand."

"Well, either way, I appreciate it. But, what if Bella-chan had gotten hurt while you were fighting?"

"It's possible, but I've taught Bella how to get out of the way of any fights that I get into. Just look up at that tree, and you'll see her hiding up there."

Seeing Blaise point at her, Bella quickly scrambled down the tree that she had climbed upon seeing her sister draw her sword. Ai was surprised and uncertain about the two sisters that she was facing, but still laughed and said, "Well aren't you an interesting pair? Anyhow, why don't you come inside and I'll give you your clothes back. Oh, and please just call me Oba-san."

"Of course. Thank you for allowing us to borrow these clothes, Oba-san."

With that, Blaise picked up her bag from the ground and began to lead Bella inside. Taro had heard the commotion and had come out to see what was going on. However, when he saw Blaise still carrying that bag, he correctly guessed that things hadn't gone as planned.

"You didn't find those relatives of yours, then?"

"Ah, no. It appears that they have moved to a different town since our mother last spoke to them."

"So what will you do now?"

"I was thinking about trying to find decent work somewhere in town until I figured something else out, Abe-san."

Hearing this, Taro decided to offer to let the girls stay with them.

Blaise attempted to refuse, saying that they had already done enough for them, but neither Taro nor Ai would take "no" for an answer on this topic. Besides, it's not like she had anywhere else to go, despite how much it hurt her pride to accept their pity.

However, Blaise was wrong. Just as Blaise and Bella had liked the Abes, they too had reciprocated the feeling. It had been years since their children had left home, and it was nice to have such young girls back in the house, even if they were a little odd, both of the Clearwaters were respectful girls.

Not that either of them would ever admit it out loud.


	8. Chapter 8

The Clearwater sisters had been staying with the Abes for almost six months. It had been a happy time, though when the time came for the girls to mourn their parents' deaths, it was hard to explain why they couldn't go to visit their graves. Eventually, Blaise decided to tell them that she was worried about the ronin that often preyed on travelers catching her and Bella unawares while they went to visit.

Aside from that, the two families had become closer than ever, and gradually fell into a routine.

In the morning, Blaise would chop would with Taro-the man was simply too stubborn to give up the responsibility and allow a girl to do it all on her own-while Bella helped Ai cook a breakfast that all four of them would eat together, usually sometime near dawn, as all of them were early risers.

After that, Blaise would practice her swordsmanship and teach Bella how to speak in Japanese. After all this time, Blaise had become fluent and Bella, while not quite fluent, could communicate well enough that her hesitation simply seemed like a childish stutter. During this time, Taro and Ai would either spend some time together or watch as Blaise practiced. As Bella's fluency improved and her lessons became unnecessary, they would even play with Bella or take her on walks.

As the mid morning came, Blaise would prepare to leave for her job. With her, she would bring a lunch that Ai and Bella had prepared for her in the morning. At first, Taro and Ai had argued against allowing her to dress as a man and work as a bodyguard, but after seeing Blaise's determination and skill, as well as her passion for swordsmanship, they allowed it. Eventually, Blaise found work guarding a street full of vendors. The shopkeepers on that street would put together a collection to pay Blaise at the end of each day that she watched over them. Blaise would usually give a portion of these earnings to the Abes in return for allowing them to live with them, though they tried to refuse it.

While Blaise was at work, Bella would stay with the Abes, cleaning the house and helping to run the shop. As Ai and Taro would prepare the food and tea, Bella would either help them or bring the food out to the customers, though always with at least one of the Abes glancing out to make sure that the little girl wasn't being harmed. At first this was thought of as strange, but eventually the customers began to delight in the presence of such a young girl. They found her adorable and brought a new energy to eating the food with her adorable yet clumsy mannerisms.

Once Blaise finished her work, she would return home and be greeted by a smiling Bella shouting, "Onii-chan, welcome home!" and the warm smiles of the Abes. Once there, she would work in the kitchen so that Taro and Ai could rest. Of course, they had tried to tell her that it wasn't necessary, but after realising that Blaise was an excellent cook, which had come from years of raising a child all on her own, and that she actually enjoyed cooking, they no longer protested.

Once the shop was closed for the night, meaning that fewer customers were coming and there was no reason to continue cooking, Ai would take stock of the kitchen, noting what ingredients would be needed for that day's dinner and the next day's breakfast and lunches as well as to feed the customers the next day. Once this was done, Blaise and Taro would go back to town to buy whatever ingredients were found to be needed.

When they got back, Ai and Bella would cook dinner while Taro cut down trees for the next days slew of firewood and harvested vegetables from the small garden that they raised. This was his and Blaise's compromise to get the cantankerous old man to leave most of the more strenuous chopping to Blaise. During this time, Blaise herself would be soaking her muscles in a hot bath after a day spent doing heavy lifting and fighting.

Once she got out of the bath, Blaise was always careful to put on a woman's yukata, at Ai's insistence. She had said that a girl as beautiful as Blaise shouldn't be forced to live the life of a man even at home. After hearing this several times, Blaise found that the simple yukata that she had bought in town was much easier to put on and more comfortable than the formal kimono she had been forced to wear in the past, and didn't mind wearing it in the evenings.

After dinner was finished, the four would once again eat together, with Blaise eating almost twice as much as anyone else. Seeing this, Ai would always shake her head with a smile, while Taro would laugh and joke about how Blaise might be a girl, but she had the appetite of a growing boy, to which Blaise would always reply that one could argue that she was a growing girl. After this everyone would laugh.

Once Blaise and Bella finished washing all of the dishes while Ai washed the laundry, among which Blaise's hakama was featured every night. Ai could never understand how such a beautiful could work up such a sweat everyday, and always said that it was a good thing everyone thought that there was a set of twins, one male and one female, here, otherwise no one would marry Blaise the way that she acted.

And it was true, Blaise had become well known in town in bother her male and female dress, though she was believed to be two separate people. This had occurred due to the times when Blaise would bathe directly after she had gotten home from work, usually because she had blood on her from killing a ronin. Due to this, she would sometimes serve customers dressed as a woman or a man, and it was assumed that her two personas were twins, something which Blaise got no end of amusement out of.

The first time that this had happened, Ai had thought that it would bother the younger woman to do kill another person, but Blaise had killed even before she had been sent back in time. She had been forced to do so several times when working as a private bodyguard, and even once when a particularly opportunistic pervert had decided that two young girls living alone would be the perfect people to rape. The police had found his body in so many pieces that they had at first thought that he had torn apart by wolves.

Nevertheless, the Abes learned to ignore these peculiarities about Blaise, accepting that she was a warrior despite being born a girl, and even seemed to embrace these differences. This was shown in how the four of them would spend hours together after dinner, simply enjoying each other's company, or gossiping about the goings-on in town, which would always call Taro to complain about how he was outnumbered by a bunch of chattering females, before they all finally went to bed.

This routine continued for months, and life was much more peaceful for the Clearwaters than it had ever been for them in the modern era. However, it was jerked to an abrupt halt as fall came to an end.

One evening when Blaise was helping to serve customers because Bella was too tired, a man came up and asked why a foreigner was serving tea in Japan. Luckily there were very few people around at the time, but the questions about Blaise's and Bella's accents became more pronounced.

Though it pained her, Blaise knew that if she wanted to protect her newfound parents, she and her sister would have to leave for a while, at least until they lost their accents. Taro and Ai both tried to talk her out of it, not wanting to lose the children that they had all but legally adopted, but neither of them could fault Blaise's logic.

However, they couldn't leave immediately as winter set in soon after.

During winter, their customers would dwindle, and foreign accents wouldn't be of as much concern as whether the tea and soup that they served was hot. Still, Blaise prepared to travel away during this time.

As there were fewer customers, Blaise took on a second job in the evening. Instead of heading home, she worked at a small dojo as an assistant instructor. The pay was good, and by the time winter ended, Blaise had managed to save enough money that she and Bella could travel to Kyoto without needing to stop for her to work on the way.

Even better, Blaise made two friends out of her students. They were boys around her age, but not quite as advanced as swordsmanship. When Blaise told them they she would be leaving in order to lose her accent, they protested, but knew that she was right.

If she stayed with her accent, it would bring trouble to the shop. But if she went to Kyoto, a city where it wasn't uncommon to find foreigners and learned to speak without an accent before she came back, then they would be able to achieve that peaceful life that they had always wanted.

Blaise's friends understood the need, and also agreed to the request that had made her tell them in the first place. While Blaise was gone, they would guard the shop in her place. It was a good deal for all involved. Blaise would know that her family was safe, and the boys would get a small profit for guarding them. If necessary, Blaise figured that she could always pay the fee herself if the shop fell on hard times.

And so, with all of the loose ends tied up, Blaise and Bella prepared to say goodbye to their parents. Before they left, Taro had to make one last attempt to stop them, "You girls barely have an accent anymore. You could probably stay without being noticed."

"You know that that's not true, Otou-san. Our accents are still very noticeable, especially to those who have experience with foreigners."

"But you were born in Japan. If we just explain the situation to them, surely they would understand," Ai tried.

"They wouldn't understand, Okaa-san. You know how people are about foreigners. They wouldn't accept the fact that we are only half unless they had proof, proof that we don't have," Blaise said, for what felt like the hundredth time.

"It's okay, Otou-chan, Okaa-chan. Me and Onee-chan will be back really soon, you'll see. And then we'll all live together again," Bella stated comfortingly. At the beginning, Bella had fought just as hard as their parents had, but eventually accepted that Blaise told her the truth.

Despite all four of them knowing that it was necessary, it was still hard for the girls to leave the people whom they called their parents. To others it might seem as though Blaise and Bella had forgotten about their biological parents by fully embracing the elderly couple as their parents. Those people were wrong.

Both girls still prayed for their parents' spirits every month. However, both of them had taught Blaise that families change. Of course, there were the members who you had been born with, but there were also the ones that you chose to be family with. After her parents' deaths, Blaise hadn;t had the opportunity to form those bonds while she was busy trying to keep herself and her sister alive.

But these two ornery shopkeepers had accepted the girls into their home knowing next to nothing about them. They had accepted them, flaws and all, just as the girls had done for them.

There were no blood ties between them and they hadn't known each other long, but they were the sisters' parents just as much as their biological parents had been, maybe even more so because they didn't maintain the same distance that the girls' parents had when they were alive.

Regardless, they all knew that if they wanted to continue as a family, Blaise and Bella would have to learn how to speak without revealing their foreign upbringing.

And so they left Edo.

It took them almost three weeks of walking, but eventually the two girls reached Kyoto. Once there, Blaise looked at the money that she had saved and determined that she had enough money to pay for a room in an inn and food for about a month, and so decided to relax for a few days before beginning work.

That way, the two sisters would be able to explore their temporary new home and Blaise could scout for what appeared to be the highest-paying jobs. She didn't intend to be there for longer than she had to, but she still needed to be able to pay for their necessities.

Also, the two girls couldn't exactly stay at an inn for the-at least-months that it would take for them to lose their accents. Blaise would need time to find a boarding house that seemed like it would be willing to take in two young people.

However, to start, Blaise decided that staying at an inn would be a nice first step. After the two girls checked in, Blaise debated whether or not she should change into women's clothing from the hakama that she was wearing, but eventually decided against it. The twin trick might work back at the shop, but that's because there was enough distance that no one ever put together the fact that the two "twins" never appeared at the same time. Here, in a large city, it would be much more easy to figure out.

And so, Blaise resigned herself to acting as a man for the duration of their stay. This wasn't exactly a great sacrifice, as she naturally acted far more masculine than what was expected of women in this era, and so always had to alter her way of speaking and acting when dressed as a woman. Not to mention that she wouldn't be able to take her sword with her while wearing a yukata.

This decided, the two sisters also had to decide whether or not they would go out today. Bella was eager to explore this new place, but both sisters were tired from almost continuously walking for three weeks to reach this city. Of course, it hadn't been as bad as their first day in Japan. Now, Blaise had had the opportunity to find out which routes took them by the most inns and was able to plan it so that they would be able to stop early everyday to rest. However, the long walks were still exhausting over the course of several weeks, and so both girls decided to just wash off the dirt from the trip, eat an early dinner and get some sleep.

Blaise was halfway to falling asleep before she remember that she had promised her parents that she would write to them as soon as they reached Kyoto. While it could that one more day wouldn't really make much of a difference, she knew that the couple had been concerned about their safety on the trip, and she didn't want to extend their suffering.

So, she got up and write a short letter stating that they were safe at an inn in Kyoto and that she write them another letter as soon as she could, one which would have an address that the pair could send any of their own letters to.

Once that was done, she quickly got dressed, taking the same precautions she took everyday to ensure that she couldn't be identified as female. While it was so late that it was unlikely that anyone would recognize her, Blaise wouldn't take any chances on her secret being discovered.

After checking that Bella was still asleep, she wrote her a short note in English, in case the little girl woke up. Then, she checked that sentries were still posted outside of the government building, which was down the street from the inn. In fact, that building had been the reason Blaise chose this inn. It's proximity to the government building would discourage anyone who was tempted to harm the guests.

With those concerns addressed, Blaise quickly dropped her letter off at the post office and paid the required fee. As she was walking back however, she noticed a large group of drunk men blocking the main street.

While Blaise would normally have enjoyed a fight with such a group, today she was tired from her journey and simply wanted to return to the inn she was staying at. Looking at the group, she recalled that she had seen a path from her window at the inn made up by back alleys that would lead her from here almost to the door of the inn.

Believing that she could find her way there, she began walking through the alleys. However, as she took the second turn that she needed to, she heard someone following her. Looking back, she saw two men with long white hair approaching her.

Normally, she would have assumed that they were elderly and needed assistance, but she could see their eyes from almost twenty feet away. They were glowing a bright, bloody red.

As Blaise tried to figure out what the hell those men were, one of them suddenly began to cackle and raised a sword to attack her. Blaise quickly blocked the attack, but was staggered by the power behind it. As she stumbled, the other ghoul came up behind her and tried to stab her.

However, Blaise saw him coming, and so, instead of trying to regain her balance, instead chose to drop to her knees, causing his sword to pierce his allies left shoulder. Not giving him a chance to scream, Blaise quickly drove her sword into the injured man's heart.

Never forgetting that she had another attacker, she quickly withdrew her sword and slashed his chest. Blaise expected the other man to fall from the fatal injury, and so she moved to sheathe her sword.

But was shocked when he simply let out another laugh full of insanity and tried to attack her again. There was nothing that Blaise could do, though.

Her sword was practically in its sheath, and this guy was fast. She wouldn't be able to dodge or block his attack.

But right before he reached her, Blaise saw the tip of a sword emerge from his chest before it was quickly removed, allowing the now-dead body to drop to the ground.

Looking up, Blaise saw a man with long, inky purple hair and cold, blue eyes. She would have moved to thank him, but something in her expression made her think that he was considering killing her as well.

This thought was confirmed when a man with shoulder-length brown hair step out of an adjoining alleyway saying, "Well, well, it looks like we have a nosy little witness who's seen too much."

While his tone suggested that he was amused, Blaise could tell from the icy look in his eyes that he was dead serious. And she knew just how much trouble she was in.

Normally, Blaise would have responded to a threat on her life by incapacitating or killing the ones who had issued the threat. However, when she saw the way that these two men moved, she knew that they were no inexperienced bandit or overconfident ronin.

In a way, she felt a kinship with them. These two obviously had a job to do, and they intended to do it, even if it was unpleasant to them. Just like Blaise had always done.

But Blaise certainly wasn't going to just stand around and let herself be killed just because of that. At the same time, she knew that she couldn't defeat both of these men at the same time. Maybe if only one of them had come, she could have managed to, just barely, defeat them, but definitely not both.

So, Blaise took the only action that she could think of.

She sheathed her sword and ran like hell.

Yeah, it was coward's move, but Blaise didn't fight for glory. She fought for survival, her's and her sister's.

And that meant that she didn't give a rat's ass if she was branded a coward so long as she lived long enough to ensure that the one's she loved were safe.

Blaise could hear the two men giving chase, but one of the advantages of being a woman was being lighter than most men. Blaise's slight weight gave her the ability to run much faster than most men, due both to her training and the fact that she didn't have to carry as much weight with her.

As soon as Blaise was certain that she had lost the men, she quickly found her way back to the, scared and confused out of her mind.

Elsewhere, Okita Souji was cursing at his failure in the Shinsengumi headquarters while Saito Hajime was explaining to the other captains what had happened over the course of the night.

Needless to say, everyone was concerned by the survival of the witness. However, Heisuke was of the opinion that even though the man had survived, he wouldn't know **what** he had been attacked by, just that he was attacked.

While all of the men considered this, and most thought it be highly accurate, they all knew that they couldn't risk rumors spreading about the Rasetsu. But at the same time, Kondou didn't want to have to chase down and execute an innocent man.

So, it was decided that if any rumors were heard by Yamazaki, then the search for the witness would go into high alert. However, barring that, the men would only look for people who resembled Okita's and Saito's description of the witness. If they found him, they were to inform the Inspectors and then they would keep surveillance over him until it became clear if he was a security risk.

Still, they were all uneasy over the possibility of having to execute a man who's only crime had been trying to save his own life.


	9. Chapter 9

Once Blaise arrived at the inn, she ran to her room and nearly woke up her little sister. After her encounter with those strange men, she was afraid that Bella could have somehow been hurt.

But once Blaise had lifted the futon her sister was under, she could tell that Bella's sleep had been deep and undisturbed. While seeing that fact went a long way towards calming her down, Blaise was still unsettled from her fight earlier.

While Blaise didn't want to wake up Bella, she needed to reassure herself that her sister was safe, that she still had family here. So, she climbed into the futon and pulled Bella close to her chest. Luckily, Bella and Blaise had often shared beds in the past, when the younger girl had had nightmares or after their parents had died, and neither girl had wanted to be alone. Due to this, Bella didn't even stir as she was moved.

Which was a good thing for Blaise. She had thought that she had gotten over all of the shocks that this era could throw at her, but now she had a whole other problem practically thrown into her lap, and she still couldn't talk about it when she had barely had time to process it.

_Okay, so those two guys attacked me. Honestly, I'm not that surprised. I mean, this is the capital of Japan, but even in Washington there are tons of gangs. They get attracted by all of the danger of being caught, and I'm pretty sure that some of them are formed for the sake of politics, at least at the beginning. Besides, ronin have always been a problem ever since we arrived._

_So, I'm not surprised that I ran into some of them here, but_ _ **what**_ _were they?_

_The way that their eyes were glowing is definitely not normal. And they were so strong. When I tried to block that guy's sword, I nearly fell to the ground. I'm lucky that it didn't break my sword._

_I've only felt that strength coming from guys who took steroids. But those guys were thinner than what steroids would make you, and their insanity didn't seem like normal roid-rage. Besides, I'm not sure that steroids were even invented by this time._

_But the oddest thing is the way that the second survived. The way that I hit him would have been fatal to most people. Even if I missed his heart, the hit should have been deep enough to at least incapacitate him, but he just brushed it off like it was nothing._

_Maybe they really were on drugs. Some new type that went out of style years ago._

_Okay, that's a craptastic idea, but I've never been a big history buff, except for the origins of some fighting styles. Besides, I can't come up with a better theory._

_The thing that concerns me even more is that those two guys saw me. I mean, normally I'd have thanked them for saving my life, but the way that they acted and what they said makes me think they really did want to kill me, too._

_No, not wanted to kill me, needed to kill me._

_Maybe to keep druggies hidden? I can see why it would be a secret. That crap is dangerous, and the government probably wouldn't want to deal with them every time that they shot up, or however they take it._

_But that leaves me with a very big problem. They saw me._

_I can't leave town. I just got here and it's not like I have enough money to make it to the next city._

_In theory, me and Bella could stop at some town and I could work my way along, but I don't like how risky that is. If we were found in a town, we would be easy to find, since everyone would know everybody. We wouldn't be able to blend in._

_But, if we stayed in Kyoto, at least for a few weeks, no one could tell if we were outsiders. And, it might even be safer._

_Those guys probably expect me to run. Hell, that was my first thought. But if I stayed for a few weeks, they might not find me, especially if they're directing their attention to where I'll be running to, instead of finding me hiding right under their noses. Then, after they looked to the city, I could run away, get to another city with the money I'll make._

_It's a better plan, but the biggest danger is that I'll be recognized here. They might not actively search for me within the city, but if they go out on an errand or something, we could bump into each other._

_That's almost guaranteed to happen. The question is whether or not they would be able to recognize me._

_There is barely a crescent moon out tonight, and that alley didn't have any lights in it. If I hadn't been used to paying attention to everything around me while I was guarding clients, I probably wouldn't have even noticed those guys._

_But I could make out some of their features, which means that they know some of mine. But I couldn't see the eyes of the men who saved me._

_That means that they probably couldn't see my silvery eyes, one of the few features that makes me stand out from the Japanese._

_The only things that they could have seen were my height, my hair and maybe my hakama._

_They know that I'm short and have long, black hair, but that's pretty common in this country, and many men have long hair. Hardly an identifying characteristic._

_Beyond that, they would only know that I carry swords, and they would assume that I am a man because of my clothes._

_Hmm, neither is something to really look for, though they might recognize my clothing. I have a medium blue top and grey hakama. Not very uncommon._

_If they went looking for me based on that, they would probably be able to find at least twenty men on any street. But, maybe I should start dressing as a woman._

_I do have a yukata, and it would certainly throw them off, but I wouldn't be able to make any money._

_That's not something that I can risk. I need to be able to pay for our food and shelter. I'll just have to keep my head down and stay inside at night._

_No working as a bodyguard, either. My sword style is too distinctive. Most men here are trained in one style of swordsmanship because it's considered more honorable. But I was trained in several, and it shows when I am fighting._

_I might be able to work as an assistant to a shop keeper, though. A lot of them use younger men to carry the heavier sale items, and I might be a girl, but my muscles are good from all of my years of training and fighting._

_It's risky, but it's my best option. I'll just have to hope that I can avoid them until I get enough funds to leave. Maybe to Osaka? I've heard that it's pretty close to here._

After Blaise had come up with her plan, she tried to get some sleep, but found it to be impossible. There was too much still going through the young woman's mind.

Instead, she settled for stroking her sleeping sister's hair and trying to recall the names of all of the cities that were near Kyoto until the sun rose.


	10. Chapter 10

After several hours passed, Bella woke up to find her big sister squeezing her closer by the minute. While the younger girl very much enjoyed this treatment, it concerned her at the same time because it meant that Blaise wasn't sleeping.

Blaise had always been an early riser primarily because she needed to be in order to get to work on time. But her work was so demanding that Bella knew the older girl always coveted sleep and never missed a chance to rest because, as Blaise said, "You never know when you'll find your next meal and bed."

For this reason, Bella knew that her big sister was worried about something very important, otherwise she would still be sleeping instead of trying to calm herself down by holding Bella. Bella would have asked what happened, but she had learned after their parents' deaths that Blaise always felt the need to think about things inside of her own head before she was willing to share it with anybody.

And so, Bella kept quiet while the two sisters got dressed, when the checked out of the inn with their bags and while they ate breakfast.

However, after several hours of walking around town, ostensibly to find a boarding house to stay in and a job for Blaise, Bella could still see her big sister scanning the crowds around them. Bella would have thought that she was looking for a job or house, but Blaise was only looking at the people around them, and sometimes she would pull Bella with her into a shadowed corner for no reason.

It frustrated her to the point that she couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Onee-chan, what is wrong?"

Looking down at her sister, Blaise realized that she must have been acting very oddly in Bella's eyes. Not wanting to lie to her, but also not wanting to scare the child, Blaise did what she always did at times like this.

She told her sister a watered-down version of the truth.

"Bella, last night something happened. I was almost hurt, and now I want to make sure that we don't see those people who tried to hurt me again."

Bella accepted the answer, but still asked, "If that's all, then can we please get some lunch?"

Laughing at her sister's question, Blaise realised that it was getting close to lunchtime and began to lead her to a small restaurant. However, on the way there, she recalled her sister's first sentence and stopped for a moment to tell the younger girl, "Bella, you remember that everyone is supposed to treat like a boy here, right?"

At Bella's nod, she continued, "Then, if I'm a boy, you need to call me Onii-chan. I know that it's odd, but you'll get used to it faster if you say it all the time, alright?"

"Yes, One-Onii-chan," the little girl caught herself just in time.

After this conversation, the two sister's ate their lunches in cheerful conversation, though Blaise had to stop herself from looking outside to scan the crowd, usually by reminding herself that doing so would make her look even more suspicious to the men looking for her.

Afterwards, the Clearwater sisters resumed their search with more focus. While Blaise still searched for the men from the night before, she put more energy in finding a place where she could carve out a living for herself and her sister.

That was pulled to an abrupt halt when she saw the black-haired man from the night before. Looking at him for several seconds, she could tell instantly that this was no look-alike like the ones she had seen earlier.

No, this was the man who wanted to kill her.

Realising this, Blaise prepared to quickly drag Bella to the opposite side of the street in order to escape him. However, before she was able to do so, she noticed a ronin sneaking up behind him.

This wasn't uncommon in Kyoto. If they didn't think that they would be able to rob a store without being caught, they would often resort to pickpocketing. But Blaise could tell that this was not what was about to occur because the ronin had his sword halfway drawn out of its sheath.

If Blaise had to guess, he was about to kill Blaise's would-be killer from the night before. At first, Blaise intended to just leave the man to his fate, after all, it would make life much easier for her if one of the two men who knew what she looked like died.

Then, she felt Bella tugging at her hand, probably to lead her towards the vendor selling dango. That single action sealed Blaise's fate.

Blaise might've been a terrible person by many people's standard, maybe even her own, but she wanted her sister to be better than that. And Blaise couldn't teach her to be better if she herself didn't help other people.

Besides, regardless of the man's intentions, he had still saved Blaise's life, and that was not a debt that she forgot easily.

Decision made, Blaise pulled back on Bella's hand and handed her the bag. At first, Bella was startled, but she had long since gotten used to her big sister's fights, and what she needed to do during them.

With a nod, Bella took the bag and ran to a corner formed by two buildings where there was less chance that she would get hurt. As soon as she was situated, Blaise began to head towards the two men.

A moment before Blaise reached the men, the ronin drew his sword to its full length. Blaise's unwitting savior began to turn around but the girl could tell that there was no way he would be able to dodge or block the attack from his current angle.

Lucky for him, he didn't have to as Blaise quickly parried the ronin's attack and then, taking advantage of his moment of vulnerability, she dealt a fatal blow to his heart before he could recover.

Unfortunately, by this time they had already caused quite a spectacle. A crowd was forming around them, but what concerned Blaise the most was a group of men wearing vibrant blue and white haoris that Blaise belatedly realised matched the haori worn by the man she had met the night before.

As they all stared at each other, Blaise vaguely felt Bella wrap her small arms around Blaise's leg, obviously having fought through the crowd in order to reach her big sister's side.

While Blaise normally would have yelled at Bella for putting herself in such danger, at that moment Blaise was grateful since her sister's presence helped to knock Blaise out of her shocked stupor. Blaise began to try to formulate a way to make a hasty exit and get out of town quickly when she saw the brown-haired man from the night before.

He was wearing the same haori as the other men, and looked even more amused than he had sounded the night before. Once the townspeople became aware of his presence, they quickly scattered, leaving behind the two sisters and the group of men.

Blaise considered chasing after the townspeople, but knew that it would be impossible after he spoke in an amused tone, "Well, it looks like out little witness decided to just give up. Won't this be fun."

_Hell, I'm screwed._


	11. Chapter 11

At breakfast that day, Shinpachi and Heisuke had been fighting each other for food, like every day. However, rather than being interrupted by Sannan or Hijikata, this time Harada chose to interfere in their brawl.

"Both of you idiots shut up already."

Everyone looked to Harada, surprised. While it wasn't uncommon that Harada had to calm those two down, he normally didn't bother to try to stop their arguments over food, more often than not, joining in with the two of them.

He went on to explain to the now quiet room that if all of the captains went out together, it might help to prevent all of the ronin from coming out today. They had become an even bigger problem than normal, but if they knew that more samurai than usual would be around town, it would probably help to deter them.

Many of the captains figured that he just wanted a day off, but none of them could fault his logic. Eventually, it was ordered that all of the men would go about their normal duties, but at noon those captains who didn't have patrols would go out to lunch together.

This notion gave all of the men new energy because even though the regular members wouldn't be attending, it meant that they would also have a break from training.

Once afternoon was getting close, the captains headed into town wearing their official haoris, not exactly patrolling, but also not simply shopping around. As they went around, Saito became distracted by a display of daggers in a shop. As he went over to inspect it, Heisuke noticed that a ronin was about to attack him and quickly alerted the others.

But they were too far away, they knew that they wouldn't be able to either protect or warn Saito of the coming danger. Then, they didn't have to.

All because a strange man stepped forward and killed the ronin for threatening Saito. All of them were shocked by the fact that someone would go so far as to protect a member of the notorious Shinsengumi, let alone a captain.

At first, they all fought their way through the crowd in order to thank the odd man. But such light-hearted intentions were lost the moment that Okita identified him as the witness that had escaped the previous night, and Saito then confirmed it with a nod.

Upon this realization, they knew that they couldn't let the man go. All of the captains moved to form a circle around him, cutting off any possible escape routes. They had already learned how eager this man was to run and they wouldn't give him a chance to escape them again.

But, the man didn't make any attempt to do so. Instead he stood in the center of them calmly, though with his head cocked slightly to the side. Not as though he was afraid, more as though he was considering his options.

Hijikata was the one who finally broke the staring contest.

"We would appreciate it if you would come with us now."

"Appreciate, huh? You say that as though I have a choice in the matter," was his sarcastic reply. All of the captains were surprised by how calm he sounded. Most men would have been terrified to even speak in their presence, and here this man was giving them sarcasm. He had spunk.

Especially given the fact that when he spoke, they could detect a foreign accent in his voice. While this wasn't entirely uncommon in Kyoto, they had all assumed that this man was Japanese. After hearing him speak though, now they weren't so sure.

"Well, you do have a choice in where we kill you. It can be either here or at our headquarters, but at least at headquarters we probably wouldn't have to kill the people you are traveling with," Okita broke in to say. While many of the captains thought his words were harsh, they couldn't deny that they may very well be true.

Despite this, Hijikata didn't want to let go of the idea of a more peaceful resolution and said once more, "Please accompany us to our headquarters."

When the man didn't move for a moment, Okita began to move draw his sword and step towards that stranger. Seeing this, he sighed and snapped at him, "Give us a minute. We're coming already."

And then, all of the captains had the same thought. _Us?_

However, their confusion was soon cleared up as the foreigner reached down to pick up a bag that had been resting on the ground and throw it over his shoulder. Even more surprising though, was when he reacher to pry an as yet unnoticed child from his leg and lean her against his hip.

Looking at Hijikata, he said, "Well, are we going or not?"

This shocked them all out of the stupor that they had fallen into at the realisation that the child must have been their for the entire confrontation without any of them noticing.

Quickly, the captains formed a unit around the man as they led him towards headquarters.

As they walked, the child eventually removed her head from the man's shoulder to look up at Harada who was walking next to the man. Seeing Harada looking back at her, the child let out an alarmed squeak before hiding her face in the foreigner's shoulder.

This caused Blaise to search for the source of her distress and once she noticed the man beside her, she snarled at him, "Stay the hell away from her," while shifting Bella closer to the center of her chest, rather than resting against her hip.

At this noise, Hijikata looked back and told him that they meant no harm, to which Blaise's reply was, "You expect me to believe the words of a group of men who just threatened to murder a **child** in cold blood less than ten minutes ago?"

Wincing as they realized that Okita **had** technically made that threat, though not knowing that it was against a child, they also began to wonder about the child's identity.

They supposed that it could be the man's daughter. In some areas, people did still tend to marry young and it would explain why the two of them looked so similar, though that resemblance also prompted them to wonder if the child was Japanese either.

Regardless of any inane speculation that the captains might have had, they didn't ask the man for any answers, knowing that they would have to wait until they reached headquarters in order to interrogate him. Though, it was unlikely that such questions as who the child is would come up during the interrogation when there were more pressing concerns, such as how much he knew about the Rasetsu and why he had saved Saito.

They walked in tense silence until they came to the gate of headquarters. There, they could hear the man whispering.

At first Hijikata turned around to yell at him, until he realised, at about the same time as the rest of the men, that the foreigner was whispering words of comfort and promises of protection to the child in his arms. All of them felt guilt for scaring the child so much that she would need such words, but they knew that they couldn't do much about it now, when anything that they said to the child would likely be false comfort, as well as having the chance of scaring the child further.

However, as the captains continued to escort the two sisters inside, they didn't hear Blaise quietly whisper to Bella in English as they stepped inside.

"Remember that I am your elder brother."

Blaise knew that they were already captured, but she didn't want to give up that secret just yet. So far, the men had a reason to keep her alive: information.

While her true gender wouldn't be a question that they would really ask, it was an important secret for her to keep if she wanted any chance of escaping this situation unscathed, thought she would admit that she had no idea how she would do that.

With each step, she kept hoped more and more that the words that she had said to Bella really would be the truth, rather than lies told as cruel comfort.


	12. Chapter 12

Once the group entered headquarters, Hijikata quickly ordered the rest of the men to escort the foreigner to the meeting room while he gather Kondou and Sannan. They all looked surprised, and they every right to be.

Prior to the last few minutes, he had intended to simply torture the witness when he was found in order to find out the truth of who knew their secret. However, that was before he knew that such a young child would also be involved.

Hijikata might be known as a demon, but even he didn't have the stomach to harm a child.

And so the captains led the two to the meeting room, allowing her to sit in its center while they all sat around the perimeter in their usual spots, with the exception of Okita, who stood by the door to prevent any escape attempts.

Seeing this, Blaise couldn't help but give out a snort of exasperation. Just how stupid did these men think she was? Sure, she might have attempted it if she had been alone, it wouldn't be the first time that she had risked her life on a stupid risk to save her own neck. But there was no way that she would even consider risking her sister's life.

Blaise hoped that even if these men decided to kill her, they wouldn't be so barbaric as to do the same to Bella. Of she was lucky, she might be able to convince the men to allow the girl to live. If a miracle happened, Blaise might even be able to live with her, though she didn't really hold much hope for that happening.

Blaise might have been a fool at times, but she had been a bodyguard long enough to know that when push came to shove, people could do anything to secure their own interests. She just prayed that these men wouldn't see any need to harm Bella.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when she heard the door open again to reveal the man with long black hair who had left earlier enter, accompanied by a kind-looking man in his thirties or forties and a man with glasses and shorter black hair.

As the three men settled down at the front of the room, the kind-looking one decided to introduce himself.

"I am Kondou Isami, to my left you see Hijikata Toshizo and to my left is Sannan Keisuke."

As he spoke, Blaise had one thought. _Does this guy think he's taking me out on a date or something?_

Blaise almost laughed when she heard her thought repeated in more or less the same words by an over muscled man standing behind her, "You don't need to be so polite. You're questioning the boy, not taking him out to dinner."

She could tell that she wasn't the only one amused by the statement based off of the looks in their eyes, though her own amusement intensified as she saw Kondou become flustered by the commentary.

He recovered after a moment though, asking Blaise, "Would you mind telling us exactly who you are then?"

Blaise had known that this was coming, and decided to stick to the truth, for the most part. However, before she could speak, she was careful to think about how to modify her voice.

They already knew that she was a foreigner, but Blaise didn't want them to find out that she was also a girl. She knew what could happen if a bunch of men found a helpless woman amongst their midst. It was one of the main things she had been hired to prevent.

So, when Blaise spoke, she carefully lowered the pitch of her voice in an attempt to mask her femininity.

"I am Abe Blaise. If you don't mind, I would like to know exactly who you people are."

Blaise's parents had already said that it would be okay for the sisters to use their name on their travels, or even at home. At the time, Blaise hadn't intended to take them up on their offer, afraid of bringing trouble to their doorstep.

However, at this moment she was more concerned by the idea that she and her sister would be killed. These men looked like samurai, and they were often the most cruel to foreigners.

It looked as though Kondou would have continued to question her, but Hijikata interrupted him, angrily.

"Do you really expect us to believe that a citizen of Kyoto wouldn't know who we are? I would prefer if you didn't treat us as fools."

"I meant no disrespect. However, my sister and I only arrived in the capital yesterday, and when we arrived we only wanted to eat our dinner and go to sleep. We didn't have time to catch up on any of the local gossip, though I will say that the people who assume that they are known are very likely to seem like fools around other people."

Yeah, Blaise was being a little disrespectful. She knew that they could easily kill her and her sister, but Blaise just didn't have it in her to be so submissive.

But her words had their desired effect. Hijikata looked slightly embarrassed, and Kondou quickly explained to her, "We are the captains of the Shinsengumi, a group of samurai formed to defend the capital from ronin."

Hearing those words, Blaise remembered some old stories she had heard about a group by that name. She didn't have the time to recall them in full detail now, but she would try to remember more later if she survived.

For now, she had to endure their questioning.

Sannan asked, "And what, precisely, did you come to the capital for?"

"We came so that I could find work. Our old home is not very friendly to those with accents like our's and I had hoped that Kyoto would be slightly better," Blaise mixed the truth and lies into her answer, knowing that such events would make it more difficult for them to even tell that she was lying in the first place, and next to impossible for them to discover the truth.

Blaise didn't want these men to find out the truth about herself and her sister, and she wanted even less for them to find their parents. A name was one thing, Abe was pretty common anyway, but she wouldn't allow her mistakes to cause harm to come to her new parents.

"I see, so then can you tell us about what happened last night?" Kondou asked with a slightly uncomfortable look on his face.

Blaise considered playing innocent, saying that she didn't know what they were talking about. She might have tried it if she thought that it would work, but the two men that she had been run from the night before had obviously already identified her.

So she decided to tell them the truth and hope that she would find a chance to escape later on.

"If you're talking about the fight, it was self-defense."

Seeing their confused expressions, Blaise decided to elaborate. "Last night two men attacked me. I managed to kill one and injure the other before one of your men arrived and killed the one that I had injured."

Now all of the captains were surprised. This man was claiming to have fought against two Rasetsu alone and managed to survive. They would have assumed that he was lying if not for two things: Okita and Saito had both said that one of the Rasetsus was dead by the time that they got there, and the fact that they had seen this guy when he defended Saito. He may very well have had the skill to do so, if he got lucky.

However, Sannan brought up the question that they had all been wondering, "What were you doing out so late at night?"

"I had promised that I would right to some friends back home when I arrived in Kyoto. I checked into an inn so that my sister could sleep there while I delivered the letter. It was on my way back to the inn that I was attacked."

"And you ran because?" Hijikata interjected.

"I ran because your men made it clear that while they might have saved me, that did not make them my friends in any way. I felt that my life was more at risk with the two of them than it was with my attackers," Blaise finally said, steadily looking Hijikata in the eyes. She had considered lying, but she figured that if they had any chance at survival, she should cooperate, up to a point.

Blaise was also desperately curious about who those men had been, but she knew that if she expressed any interest in them, it would show that she had understood that those men weren't normal. They would know that she had figured out at least part of whatever secret they were keeping, and then her fate would be sealed.

Instead, she waited as the captains seemed to think over what to do with her.

Harada especially had an issue with this predicament as while he had no desire to harm an innocent man, he had even less to harm a child. Realising that the other captains had all forgotten about the child's presence due to her being silent since they had entered the compound, he decided that he should bring it up before any of them made a permanent decision which may harm the child.

"Just out of curiosity, what do you think that we should do with the girl?"

All of the captains looked surprised, though those that had already noticed the child on the walk over were less shocked by her presence than by the fact that they had forgotten her existence. Kondou and Sannan however, looked confused, trying to figure out what the man was saying.

At this moment, Bella decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to see who the men that her big sister was talking to were. After all, they were talking about her now.

With this thought in mind, Bella raised her head from where she had buried it in her sister's chest and turned slightly to look towards Kondou.

Upon hearing his gasp of surprise, Bella recalled how scary the day had been and let out a whimper of fear. This cause Blaise to pull Bella back into her chest and hunch her shoulders over her protectively while eliciting a sound that could only be classified as a roar.

While Kondou and Sannan were shocked by the fact that they hadn't noticed the child which had obviously been clinging to Blaise the entire time, they could understand how they had missed her, seeing as how the child was clinging to the man's clothing while practically sitting on his lap.

After they got over their shock, Kondou looked as though he was about to berate himself and his men for speaking as they had in front of such a young child. Before he got the chance though, Sannan asked the question that they were all thinking.

"Just who is that child?"

Blaise considered lying and saying that Bella was just some stray that she had picked up in town. If she did that, there was a strong chance that they would let Bella live, but, at the same time, they were far away from Edo and Bella wouldn't be able to survive on her own.

Besides, Blaise knew that neither sister really wanted to be separated from each other.

"As I told you earlier, I came to town with my sister." Seeing the men nod, Blaise continued, "This girl is my sister."

That got her some shocked gasps, but most of the men had figured that there must be some blood tie between the two, given how similar the two of them looked to each other. But now, they had another question floating through their minds: Just who the hell travels with such a small child?

The roads were a dangerous place. Ronin and bandits often attacked travelers and it was easy to get lost at times. Before they could give voice to these thoughts, Kondou spoke up.

"Then perhaps we should allow you to leave."

All of the others were shocked by this announcement, even Blaise. She had hoped for something of the like, but she hadn't expected that it would be that easy. As soon as Sannan began to speak, Blaise knew that she had been right.

"However, we can't allow the boy to go when he has already seen them." Hearing this Blaise's heart began to sink, until Sannan continued on in a speculative tone, "But if we were to keep them with is until we can determine if they are a threat to us, then we could put the boy to work."

All of the men were relieved to hear that none of the commanders had suggested killing the child. Killing an innocent man who had stumbled upon their secret was something that they would all regret having to do, but they could do it if they had to. Killing a child was another matter entirely. None of them would ever be able to allow such a thing to happen and retain any of their honor.

They hadn't expected Kondou or Hijikata to suggest it, but Sannan had always been a cold bastard. He was known for doing whatever was necessary for the sake of the Shinsengumi, so they could see him suggesting it. But this time, he hadn't.

Who knew that Sannan actually had a heart?

Following Sannan's train of thought, Hijikata asked, "So, what can you do, boy?"

"Fight, carry messages, cook, clean," Blaise listed off. She would have added some other skills of her, except that she was worried that those skills would make her look more suspicious to these men, and the fact that they all looked more interested in the fact that she knew how to fight.

Quickly, Kondou suggested that they test her strength with a sparring match.

When Blaise saw that the brown haired man from the night before volunteered to be her opponent, she nearly smiled.

Blaise had never particularly enjoyed hurting others, but this time it was different. She had already been made a prisoner, but now she got the chance to beat this bastard to within an inch of his life.

Nobody scared her sister.


	13. Chapter 13

As the captains began to file outside, Blaise shifted so that when she stood, she would still be carrying Bella. Normally, Bella would have resented such treatment, but in the company of men who so clearly concerned her sister, Bella more than welcomed it.

Carrying Bella, Blaise had to carefully shift in order to lift her bag from the ground without causing either to come into contact with the swords at her hip. Coming outside, she saw a large courtyard.

Across the yard from where all of the men seemed to have decided to watch the fight, there was a tree. Seeing this, Blaise decided that it would be the best place to leave Bella, figuring that if Bella stayed there, she wouldn't be in harm's way and, if worse came to worst, she might be able to escape for a short while by climbing the tree.

It was a flimsy hope, but it was all that Blaise had.

Once Bella was situated and Blaise had put down her bag, Kondou came over to hand her a wooden sword. Seeing where she had left the child, he opened his mouth to comment, but Blaise cut him off.

"Look, you look like a nice guy. But no matter how you're treating us now, it doesn't change the fact that your men threatened to murder my sister in cold blood, so if you really want to help, make sure that they stay the hell away from her."

Hearing these harsh yet honest words, Kondou was struck speechless. No one had told him about this incident, but he would be sure to look into the matter.

The Shinsengumi might have a bad reputation, but they were by no means so heartless as to harm a child.

Or so he had always thought.

Kondou was forced to abandon these thoughts when he saw Abe pick up the wooden sword that was offered to him. He considered stopping the match and giving the man a different opponent. After all, he had already seen his younger sister threatened, and giving him an opponent like Souji who he could never hope to beat would likely only solidify his negative opinion of the Shinsengumi. Kondou came to this realization too late, as Hijikata started the match between the two.

Unknown to Kondou, Blaise couldn't be happier with how this had turned out. She might be a prisoner here, but at least she could hurt the man who had threatened her sister.

As soon as the match started, Okita immediately attacked. Blaise was slightly surprised by this action, as many experienced fighters would have attempted to measure themselves against their opponent before striking.

It was obvious from how he held himself that he wasn't an amateur, leaving Blaise to consider if he was underestimating her or if he simply didn't care.

She wasn't able to ponder his actions for long as she had to move quickly and lunge low to the ground in order to dodge the blow. Feeling Okita's sword pass above her head, Blaise was glad that she had dodged instead of trying to block it. She could feel the power in the blow.

She had no doubt that with a real sword such an attack would be fatal. Hell, even with a wooden sword that attack could probably kill if it hit the right spot.

Okita seemed shocked that Blaise had moved quickly enough to dodge him so easily. Normally, he was the fastest of all of the captains.

But Blaise had been a bodyguard for a long time and, as small as she was, she had learned to take advantage of the speed and agility that her size provided. Seeing that Okita had overextended his sword, probably assuming that he could take her down with one blow, Blaise quickly stood up and drove her sword into his solar plexus.

Seeing the man in front of her start to fall with a small cry of pain and surprise, Blaise quickly drove her sword downward. To the outside observer, it would appear that she was simply trying to get it out of the way in order to prevent Okita from falling on it.

In reality, Blaise used the opportunity to drive the sword between Okita's legs, causing him to release a much higher cry. Hijikata called the match to an end, with all of the captains looking shocked at Blaise's skill.

Blaise could see that they expected her to give them the wooden sword, but she had something to make clear first. Leaning over Okita's prone form, Blaise hissed, "If you ever lay so much as a hand on my sister's head, or scare her in any way, I assure you that the pain you feel right now will be **nothing** compared to what I will make you feel before I kill you."

For a moment, Blaise thought that he might not have heard her before Okita opened his eyes and looked at her with equal amounts of hatred and grudging respect. Seeing this, Blaise knew that he understood and walked over to the other captains to return the wooden sword.

Before she reached them, Hijikata quickly moved forward to ensure that Okita was still alive. He might be a brat, but Hijikata still cared for him.

Seeing that he was okay, Hijikata turned back to see Blaise leaving her place at the captains. Before he could stop her, he saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw the little girl that he had forgotten about all but throw herself into Blaise's arms, though somewhat hampered by the heavy bag that Blaise had left with her. Looking around, Hijikata could see that the rest of the captains had forgotten about the child as well.

_Just how the hell do we all keep forgetting about her?_

Once Okita could stand again, the group made their way back to the meeting room. Kondou made the offer to have Blaise join the Shinsengumi as an official member, stating that it would allow them to keep an eye on her and give her a chance to regain her freedom should she prove trustworthy.

Blaise didn't have to consider it for long. She really didn't have many options. Of course, she could try to fight her way out of there, but from what she had seen, these men wouldn't be so easy to beat, especially if she were to fight all of them. Not to mention that such a fight would probably kill Bella as she would be caught in the middle of it.

Besides, Blaise was still curious about just what kind of drugs those men from the night before had been on, especially if there was a chance that she could meet more like them.

With Blaise consent, Kondou spoke up, "Then you will become a member of the Third Division under Saito-kun."

Turning to look at where Kondou had gestured, Blaise realized that she would be working with the black-haired man from the night before. He seemed to just keep popping up, didn't he?

Blaise would have questioned it, but Kondou began to explain her duties that she would have as a member of the Shinsengumi. She didn't really care, most of them were the same that she would have back before she got sent to the past, and even here.

As a bodyguard, she had to train continuously to keep her strength and she often patrolled hotels or conference centers on jobs, and she enjoyed cooking anyway.

But she was more concerned about one thing. "Excuse me, but just what would you expect me to do with my sister while I am on these patrols? I don't think it would be safe for her to come along."

Kondou looked surprised and moved his gaze down to the small child who had once again taken up residence straddling Blaise's lap with her head tucked into her "brother's" chest.

At least now Hijikata had an idea as to why it was so easy to forget about the child. She hadn't spoken once and clung so closely to Blaise that at first, it appeared as though they were one person as their clothes blended together.

Kondou was happy about the reminder, stating cheerfully. "Why, she can stay at headquarters with us while you are away."

Blaise simply gaped at him in shock, trying to find the words to express just how many times hell would have to freeze over before she would allow that to happen.

Seeing Blaise's expression, Kondou remembered that one of his men had threatened the child earlier and quickly said, "Ah, there's no need to be concerned. Really, I have a daughter of my own close to her age. Please believe me when I say that I would never allow anyone to harm your sister."

Blaise had never been prone to believing in words alone. Experience had taught her that even the seemingly kindest men could lie without remorse. She was much more likely to believe actions, particularly those performed in battle, as when a man's life was threatened, that was when his true intentions were often shown.

However, as Blaise stared at Kondou, she began to think that maybe she could allow this to happen. She didn't have many options, she could leave her sister here or take her on patrol, and while Blaise didn't want to leave her sister, she also didn't want to think what could happen to Bella if she was caught up in the middle of a fight. Fighting in the forest was one thing, there were plenty of escape routes that could be found, but in the crowded streets of Kyoto, there was far more chance of Bella being hurt.

Besides, while Kondou hadn't really done anything to prove himself, something about his eyes made her want to believe him. He felt safe, and Blaise had learned to trust her instincts, especially when she really did have no other choice in the matter.

"Alright, but if you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate knowing the names of your men. It appears that I will be staying here for a while," Blaise added drily.

Hearing this, Kondou realized that they had never properly introduced each other. Wanting to remedy this problem quickly, he made fast introductions for all of the captains, and then asked curiously, "And you sister's name is?"

"Abe Bella."

"Ah, well then, it's very nice to meet you Bella-chan," Kondou said in the direction of the girl.

Hearing her name, Bella hesitantly looked up to see Kondou smiling at her. He seemed so friendly that part of her wanted to trust him, but she wasn't sure she wanted to when her sister had so clearly had a problem with him. Bella could tell by the way that her sister's muscles tensed when she spoke to the man.

Still, Bella couldn't worry for long before Blaise asked if she could take a bath to wash off the sweat from the day, as well as the blood from the ronin earlier. Hearing this, Kondou felt guilty for forcing the boy to sit in another person's blood for so long, especially when he had saved a member of the Shinsengumi.

Realizing this, Kondou said, "Ah, that actually works out well. I was going to take a bath myself soon."

Blaise felt an intense burst of panic, knowing that her secret would be discovered. However, just as quickly as she felt this, Blaise felt her sister move slightly and realized that the answer to her problem was literally sitting in her lap. "Ah, sir, I'm not sure that that would be entirely appropriate. You see, my sister is too young to wash by herself and I would prefer it if she wasn't seen or seeing a man outside of our family."

Kondou blushed, saying, "Of course, why don't we have Saito-kun here lead you to the bath so that you and Bella-chan can bathe in peace."

Thanking him, Blaise again lifted Bella as she stood up and reached for her bag once standing. After saying goodnight to the captains, Blaise followed Saito to the bath. Normally, she would have tried to make conversation, if only in an attempt to get more information out of him. However, Saito gave off an aura that signaled to Blaise that it wouldn't be appreciated.

Blaise doubted that she'd get anything out of him anyway, but she did wish she could have asked Saito why he kept glancing at her as they walked. Surely he had figured out by now that she wasn't stupid enough to try to escape, right?

Once they finally arrived, Blaise did a quick scan of the bathhouse to make sure that there weren't any men already inside. Not that she could ask them to leave, but it would have been pretty damn ironic if she had been able to keep her secret throughout the earlier interrogation only to be discovered by a grunt soldier.

Blaise desperately wanted to try to recall where she had heard the name Shinsengumi, hoping that it might giver her an edge in her new situation if she could remember what would happen, but she didn't give into the urge.

There might not be any men here now, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't come in while she and Bella bathed. So, Blaise pushed all thoughts out of her mind as she tried to quickly yet thoroughly scrub both her sister's and her own body.

Meanwhile, Hijikata called Yamazaki to the meeting room shortly after Saito returned. Once he arrived, Hijikata gave him a brief report on what had happened, and issued an order, "Follow the man. He's already shown that he is willing to run away, and I don't want to give him the chance."

Hijikata hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I want you to watch him even while he is at headquarters, Yamazaki." Seeing the others' shock at this statement, he quickly reminded them, "Abe-san was able to beat Souji and a Rasetsu in a fight. That means that there is at least a possibility of him beating out guards. If Yamazaki watches him, then that chance is diminished."

Yamazaki agreed, but then Harada brought up a very valid point.

"If Yamazaki is the only one watching him, then when will Yamazaki sleep?"

"That's simple. There is a room with a door that has a slightly warped frame. Even trying to open it creates an ungodly racket. If Yamazaki sleeps in the room next to it, he would be woken the moment Abe tried to leave."

With this decided, the captains were slightly more optimistic about the Abes' chances of survival. With such tight security, they would be able to stop Blaise before it came to the point of his needing to be executed, something which appealed to the captains less than it ever had once the child was introduced as a part of the situation.

Yamazaki quickly left the meeting room to move his belongings to his new room and then wait outside of the bathhouse for his new charge to finish washing. He was rather curious, as he had never been asked to watch a small child before, and he was nervous about his duty. He had no desire to harm a child, and was uncertain if he would even be able to do so if it became necessary.

As he waited, Yamazaki decided that, either way, this assignment was going to be very interesting, though he had no idea just how interesting it would become.


	14. Chapter 14

As soon as Blaise had finished washing herself and Bella, she all but ran to the area where she had left her clothes. Normally, after a day like today where she had had to deal with the stress of nearly being killed as well as both of the fights that she had gotten into, she would have stayed in the tub for a little longer and let the warm water loosen her muscles while she thought over the events of the day. But she couldn't afford such a luxury, not when she could be discovered at any moment.

For a moment though, Blaise paused and thought about the tranquil life that she and Bella had shared, living with the Abes. That old couple had become family to her, even in the short time that they had been together, and Blaise missed them.

It had been so long since they had been together, and she might never see them again. When she had decided to come to Kyoto, she had thought that she would be able to see them again, and that she would be able to write to them in the meantime. But she couldn't, and she had to try to keep herself and Bella alive until she could get them out of here.

She had always felt the weight of that burden, even back in the US in the 21st century. But, this was different. There was a different set of rules here, many of which she was still trying to fully figure out, and she was alone.

That might not be new, but Blaise could feel the weight of it sometimes, especially when she thought about how hard it was going to be to create a good life for her sister. But, just as quickly as Blaise had fallen into this state of uncertainty, she forced herself out of it.

Blaise had chosen this life, and she had done so knowing that it would be hard. She had always hated people who made decisions only to back out once the going got tough, and she sure as hell wasn't going to become one of them at this point.

Reminding herself of these facts, Blaise once more began to dress. Once both sisters were presentable, Blaise was reminded of the woman's kimono that she had packed. At the time, she thought that she might want to go back to dressing as a woman while she traveled, but such an attempt could get her killed now.

Just because Kondou seemed like a decent man didn't mean that he was. Blaise had been mislead in the past, and now the stakes were even higher. This wasn't a job where trusting the wrong person could get her or a client killed. This was her life now, and Bella would be implicated if anyone found out the truth.

Looking at it now, Blaise knew that her decision to act as a man had been slightly short-sighted. Oh, it would be easy for a while, but Blaise knew that some of her mannerisms would come across as feminine no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

But Blaise knew that it wasn't the time to think about such things, so she shouldered her bag and checked to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything important or worse, revealing. Seeing nothing, she reached out her hand to Bella and said, "We'll talk about everything that's happened today once they've put us somewhere to sleep for the night, okay sweetie? So just give me a little more time to get this situation sorted out."

Bella nodded solemnly and reached out to grab her sister's hand. Relieved that Bella would go along with her plans yet again, Blaise lead the child outside to see a different man standing outside of the bathhouse.

Before Blaise had a chance to ask, the man noticed her and said, "Good evening, Abe-san. I am Yamazaki Susumu. Hijikata-san asked me to show you to your room once you were finished bathing."

Slightly taken aback by the sudden demonstration of manners inside of the Shinsengumi ( _who knew that they had any? They certainly seemed plenty informal and rude earlier_ ), Blaise replied, "I appreciate the help Yamazaki-san. And please, I would prefer it if you would call me Blaise."

As she said the words, Blaise hadn't thought much of it, but Yamazaki's expression of surprise reminded her that in Japan it was rare for people who had just met each other to refer to each other by their given names. Blaise explained, "Ah, it's just that my sister and I are foreigners, and in our country most people are referred to by their given names unless there is a large age gap. Truthfully, I'm not really used to being called Abe, so I'm not really sure that I would even respond to it half of the time." _Especially considering the fact that it's not my real name._

Blaise's explanation must have rung through as Yamazaki quickly accepted it, though he did look slightly awkward as he nodded and said, "Blaise-san."

After that, there was little conversation as the two girls were led to their room. Once they got there, Yamazaki said, "This is your room. There is already a futon in there and you won't be sharing with any of the other men. Is there anything else that you would need?"

Blaise smiled, partially because of relief. She hadn't even thought of what she would do if she was expected to sleep around a bunch of men. The idea didn't really bother her as she had done so before, but it would have made changing her clothes much harder to do without getting caught.

"No, this is perfect. Bella and I usually prefer sharing a futon anyway."

Yamazaki looked surprised at her words, until he looked down and saw a young child clinging to Blaise's hand. He had wondered where the child had gone, but had assumed that one of the captains may have taken her elsewhere while her brother was interrogated. While he wasn't exactly happy about having to keep watch over a child as well, he was rather embarrassed that he hadn't even noticed Bella despite her clearly having been there ever since they had left the bathhouse.

Despite this, Yamazaki quickly bid the two of them a good night and watched as they walked into their room, wondering if this assignment would really be as easy as he had assumed that it would be. After all, even the child was able to hide from him, who's to say that her brother hadn't taught her that trick in the first place?

Inside of the room, Blaise noticed that the wooden frame of the door was warped so that it would be impossible to open or close it quietly. She bemusedly thought that the Shinsengumi really had found a completely innocent-looking yet effective method of keeping her from escaping. With all of the racket that door made, there was no way that Blaise would be able to sneak out in the middle of the night.

Blaise hadn't thought that it would be so easy to escape, but she would admit that the thought of sneaking out while most of the men were asleep had crossed her mind once or twice. While far-fetched to start with, that idea was completely out of the question now.

Still, Blaise was curious about whether or not the captains had put any other measures in place to keep her here. Seeing that Bella was about to question why they were still standing next to the door, Blaise put her hand over the girl's mouth and listened closely.

From outside of the door, she could hear Yamazaki slowly walk away and then a pause in his footsteps occurred as she could hear a slight sound of wood scraping against wood before he began to move again before silence.

Considering the location of their room, Blaise was fairly certain that Yamazaki had stepped into the room next door. Guess she was right about them being cautious about leaving her alone.

Maybe she should have back in that match earlier. At the time, Blaise was blinded by anger at the terror that Okita had evoked in Bella. While she didn't regret knocking him down by a few pegs, Blaise was now wondering if perhaps fighting him honestly hadn't been a mistake.

From the way that they others had reacted, Okita was obviously a difficult opponent to beat. Despite his underestimating her, Blaise had to agree. His attack had a lot of raw power behind it, and the way that he moved, as well as the look in his eye, told Blaise that he was no amateur. The truth is that she was probably lucky that he had underestimated her. If he had taken her seriously, that fight could have had a much different outcome.

If that was a sample of what the Shinsengumi had to offer, then Blaise would have to be much more careful about how she acted from here on out.

Blaise was shaken from her thoughts by Bella slowly moving her head. When she finally removed her hand, Blaise said, "WHy don't we put on our yukatas before I begin explaining what is going on."

Once they had both changed, Blaise laid down on the futon properly, with Bella curled into a ball at her side, resting her head on Blaise's stomach. Seeing Bella's curious eyes, Blaise knew that she would have to tell her something, but, at the same time, she was mindful of the fact that Yamazaki was more than likely listening in on their conversation.

When Blaise spoke in English, Bella was surprised. While they had spoken in their native tongue a few times, they had both decided to do their best not to speak English for fear that it would renew their accents and cause them to stay in Kyoto for longer than they wanted to. As a result, Bella knew that the situation they were in was bad and listened to her sister without moving.

"The men from earlier were a part of the Shinsengumi. Last night, I saw something that they didn't want me to, and now they are going to keep us here until they know that I won't tell anyone about it. So, until then, I'm going to be working for them.

"That means that I won't be able to watch over you as often, so you should stay in public areas when I'm gone. If you ever feel scared, just yell and I'll come as soon as I can."

When Bella nod her head, Blaise sighed, knowing that the hardest part of this conversation would be next. Still, she continued, carefully saying, "Bella, do you remember when I told you that a lot of people didn't want to hire a girl as a bodyguard because they aren't as strong as men?"

Seeing that Bella was still being calm and listening carefully, Blaise began to explain, "Unfortunately, these men are the same way. They think that women aren't strong enough to fight, or to work for them. So, I'm going to pretend to be a boy while we're here. That means that you won't be able to call me your sister. You'll have to call me "onii-chan" all the time, even when we are alone, like right now, all right, Bella?"

"But why does everyone think that we can't do anything, One-Onii-chan?"

Looking into Bella's big eyes, Blaise was reminded just how mature Bella had become since their parents' deaths. A part of her felt guilty for not being able to protect her enough that she would be able to retain all of her childhood innocence, but at this moment, a larger part was relieved. Bella's maturity was keeping her from screaming about the injustice of it all, like she had when Blaise had first told her about how many men, and even other women, viewed female fighters.

Still, her question made Blaise consider whether or not she might be short-changing the Shinsengumi. Sure, they were basically keeping her prisoner, but in their position, she wouldn't have been any kinder. If anything, Blaise would have been worse. Whatever secret they had, it was obviously important, and while Blaise would have hated it, she wouldn't have blamed the captains if they had decided to kill her for stumbling upon it.

It's what Blaise would have done, after all.

Still, the way that the two sisters had been treated showed a kindness that Blaise doubted could have been faked, despite how much they had tried to intimidate her. That made Blaise question, if only for a moment, whether or not they would accept a female warrior.

Just as quickly as it had occurred to her, Blaise dismissed it. While they were in the bath, Blaise had recalled that the Shinsengumi had been active during the 1800s. Not exactly useful information, but at least now she new what time period she was dealing with.

And what kind of mindset she was facing. Even in modern Japan, many women are still viewed as inferior to men. Go back 200 years, and it was bound to be worse.

Even if the captains had shown her some kindness, they wouldn't accept her as a soldier. At best, they would use her as a cook or maid. At worst, they would use her as a concubine, or even kill her.

Blaise knew that if she was expected to be a pretty little woman, she would be bored as all hell, and if she was a prostitute, she would end up **killing** someone. So her best option was to remain a boy, for as long as she could anyway.

After confirming her resolve, Blaise began to answer her sister's question. "People think that we can't do anything because we are girls. It isn't fair or right, but it still happens. In all honesty, they do have a point. Don't forget, girls tend to be smaller than boys, and that can make it harder for us to fight, especially if we aren't trained in a style that is suited for us. For that reason, we are often underestimated."

Looking at the sadness in her sister's eyes, Blaise felt the need to comfort her, saying, "But that also means that they don't know just how strong us girls can become. When a man makes a mistake, he'll be punished for it, but, eventually, it will be forgiven. With a girl, they would never be forgiven. Men would just use that simple mistake as the proof they needed to say that girls aren't able to fight. And that gives us strength, because we have to prove ourselves every time we fight, otherwise not only will we be ridiculed, but all the other girls will also be discredited if we make a mistake. It gives us a determination that most men never find, and that makes us strong."

"So the, if you always do that, then Onii-chan must be really strong, huh?"

Blaise smiled at the innocent question before replying, "I am, not just because of that, but also because I have you. You give me a reason to fight, and that means that I won't allow myself to lose."

As Bella giggled, Blaise yawned. It had been a long day, and, looking at her sister, Blaise realized that they were both exhausted. Blaise needed to think over all of the holes in her male persona, but, at the moment, she could feel sleep pulling at her mind, so she decided to deal with it tomorrow and announced that it was bedtime.

She'd managed to act as a man for several months in Edo without much difficulty, so why would it be any different here?


	15. Chapter 15

In the morning, Blaise was woken by someone trying to open the door to her room. Sleepily thinking that they had decided to try to attack her in her sleep, Blaise began to draw her sword, only to see Heisuke peaking through the crack that he had made.

Normally she would have attacked, but given the friendly smile on his face and the lack of any help, she figured that he wasn't there to kill them. Still though, it took her a second to sheathe her sword and let Bella get up from where she had pushed her to the floor in case of a fight.

Blaise would have asked what he was doing here, but Heisuke noticed that she was awake and said, "Hey, sorry for waking you up like that. We're all eating breakfast in the meeting hall right now, so I thought that you could join us."

Blaise was surprised, both by the fact that they would allow her to eat with them, as well as by the fact that she had slept in so late. Normally, she was up before dawn, but, based on the light that was now coming through the door, it must be around early morning at least.

After a moment, Blaise recovered from her shock enough to say, "Of course. If you wouldn't mind, I will need a moment to get dressed. It seems that the tension from yesterday caught up to me last night."

"Hey, it's not a problem, Blaise," Heisuke said as he leaned against the now open door.

As he watched her expectantly, Blaise realized that he expected her to change in from of him. It really wasn't all that surprising, men, especially soldiers, changed in front of each other all of the time, just as they often bathed together.

Luckily, Blaise had already come up with a solution for whenever anyone asked her to do these things, and said, "I'm sorry, but could you leave the room for a moment. I need to help my little sister get dressed."

Heisuke, looking embarrassed, said, "Ah, yeah, I'll just be waiting out here then, I guess."

Slightly amused by his reaction, Blaise dressed Bella first, knowing that it would take far less time. As she did so, she couldn't help but be relieved that he had been the one sent to get her. It was obvious that he wasn't the most observant of the lot, and that had probably just saved her secret.

The night before, Blaise had decided not to rebind her chest. At first, it didn't really bother her to have her breasts tied to her chest, but after a few hours, it could get slightly painful. The night before, Blaise had thought that since they had a private room, she could sleep normally and bind her chest when she woke up.

When Heisuke had barged in, Blaise had been certain that he would notice. Luckily, her hair had fallen in front of her chest, and his oblivious attitude had prevented him from noticing. Still, Blaise knew that she would have to start sleeping with her breasts tied up tightly in case this morning's intrusion should become a regular event.

Although Blaise was slightly irritated that she would have to sleep with such an uncomfortable piece of clothing on, she had to admit that she had expected that she would need to make changes to her daily lifestyle in order to make her deception last.

As she reached into the bag to find the cloth that she had been using for her breasts, her hands also came in contact with her kimono and a box of tampons. Looking at these objects, she realized just how difficult this secret would be to keep.

If someone didn't search her bag, Blaise would be shocked, and she had no way to explain several objects that she had. The kimono obviously wouldn't fit Bella, and now, she had no way of hiding it. She certainly couldn't bring it with her, and she couldn't have Bella guard it while she was working. She would have to come up with some sort of decent excuse for carrying it, as well as for carrying the feminine hygiene supplies.

When they had been transported all the way back here, Blaise had been about to get her period, so she had packed a fairly large supply of tampons and pads. It wouldn't be necessary for the job that she had had, but she always took the same bag with her, and she didn't want to risk forgetting them when she actually did need them while working.

Once her period had come, she had already been staying with the Abes. At first, she had used a few of her tampons until she realized that she might need the later. The cloths that Ai had given her for her period would be good enough when she was just walking around and relaxing, but if she had to fight while she was on her period, they would certainly leak.

Here at the compound, she would have to use her tampons every time that she was on her period, but that provided a whole new set of problems. For one thing, they could easily be found in her bag. The only good thing was that all of the members of the Shinsengumi were men, and the fact that tampons probably hadn't been invented yet. Even once they were found, Blaise doubted they would be easily identifiable.

At the same time, it's not like she had some kind of infinite supply of tampons. Once these ran out, she would have to find another way to stop the blood. And, even with the tampons, she would need to sneak away long enough to change them. Well, if worse came to worst, Blaise figured that she could probably keep them from figuring it out by saying that the blood came from a wound on her leg. Soldiers got injured all the time after all, and her hakama was dark enough that it would be able to hide the blood for a little while, at least.

Still, as Blaise dressed, she gave herself two extra tasks for the day: come up with an excuse for having women's clothing, and find a permanent solution for her period.

 _Yeah, cause both those problems are going to be_ _ **so**_ _easy to figure out._

Shaking her head, Blaise made sure that her swords, as well as the daggers that she was currently carrying, were all in place before taking Bella's hand and heading outside. She found Heisuke leaning against the wall outside of her room. Looking at him, Blaise realized that she had forgotten what his name was. For a moment, she debated asking, knowing that it would be rude to ask, but also that she would likely be forced to interact with him for a very long time.

Decision made, Blaise said, "Hey, this is kind of awkward, but I've always been horrible with names. Would you mind reminding me of yours?"

Heisuke looked shocked before he burst out laughing. When he finally got his laughter under control, he said, "Well, at least now we know that you really aren't from around here, all the locals know enough about us to stay pretty damn far away. I'm Toudou Heisuke."

Hearing his bright laugh, Blaise couldn't help but feel slightly at ease around Heisuke, despite her decision not to get too close to any of the Shinsengumi members. He just seemed so cheerful all the time, that just being in his presence brought a smile to Blaise's face as she said, "Well the, Heisuke, I suppose that I should properly introduce us, as well. I am Abe Blaise and this is my sister, Bella."

She tugged Bella forward so that the young girl would come out of the place where she had chosen to hide behind her sister's hakama. As she moved forward, Bella looked up to see the easy smile on her sister's face and decided that this boy couldn't be too bad. After all, Blaise wouldn't be so happy to be talking to a bad person. Still, Bella had learned that a lot of adults didn't like talking to little kids like her, so she shyly said, "Hi" and watched Heisuke anxiously to see his reaction.

"Well aren't you a little cutie," he said while leaning down to see her face. "Hey, I have a feeling that your big brother and I are going to be hanging out a lot in the future, so why don't you just call me Heisuke-nii, too."

"And why should she be calling you her brother?" Blaise asked with a laugh, too happy to see the happy smile on her sister's face to really mind how close he was getting to Bella.

Standing up, Heisuke replied with another one of his cheeky grins, "Well, you certainly seem to be getting friendly with me, calling me by my given name like that. You do know that we don't speak to each other like foreigners here, right?" Then, looking slightly concerned he quickly added, "Not that I really mind being closer to you."

Hearing the hope in his voice, Blaise couldn't help but think about how eager he seemed to be her friend. Blaise might have decided to stay away from these people, but she found herself wanting to answer to his clear desire, saying, "Well, I don't know. You certainly seemed to be interested in it when you called me Blaise."

"Ah yeah, I guess I did call you that," Heisuke said with a bashful look at his face.

As the three of them walked to the meeting room, Blaise and Heisuke fell into a playful banter, with Bella eventually releasing Blaise's hakama to hold onto both Blaise's and Heisuke's hands. At this action, Blaise looked down at a moment to see her sister's smile before returning to her conversation.

Blaise might have been surprised, but Bella was thrilled that her big sister looked so happy talking to Heisuke. She would have been jealous, but her Heisuke-nii looked like he would be her friend too.

Meanwhile, Blaise finally realized why simply talking to Heisuke and seeing him hold Bella's hand made her so happy. Before she became an orphan, Blaise had had a lot of friends, with a lot of them being boys from her father's dojo. After her parents' deaths though, those friends had felt awkward around her, especially when they realized that she would be raising Bella.

Within a week, the ones who used to play with Bella while waiting for Blaise to get ready couldn't even look at the child. By the time a month came, they had all disappeared. At the time, Blaise was too busy to feel anything but a small bit of sadness and disappointment. Through the years, she had been too busy to make any new friends, and now she was realizing just how much she had missed that.

While in Edo, she had made a few friends, but Blaise knew that it was conditional on their not having to see Bella or find out that Blaise herself was a girl. In fact, many of them had likely spoken to her in order to meet Blaise in her female persona.

Yet here Heisuke was, reaching out to her without any clear ulterior motive. He didn't have to, and something in his eyes told her that he really meant to befriend her, Blaise's instincts told her it was genuine. He was even willing to chat with Bella and hold her hand.

As the trio arrived at the meeting room, Blaise tried to remind herself that this was just temporary until she could figure out a way to get her freedom back, but the thought was constantly being buried under the happiness of finally having someone her age who seemed to be willing to care for her.

Once they arrived, Kondou asked what had taken them so long. Realizing that the others had waited for them, Blaise quickly apologized, "I'm sorry. I slept in and had to dress myself and Bella once Heisuke woke us up."

Kondou gave her a kind smile and said, "It's not a problem. I hope that the two of you didn't have any problems last night?"

"No, everything was fine, right Bella?" Blaise said in an attempt to draw her sister out of her shell. After all, if they were going to be staying here, Bella would need to learn how to talk to the others. Besides, it worried Blaise to see her sister so quiet when normally she was such a ball of energy.

Taking her sister's cue, Bella cautiously looked around Blaise and said, "It was really quiet last night."

All of the captains were slightly surprised to finally hear the little girl's sweet voice. They had begun to think that the child was incapable of speech with how silent she had been.

However, Hijikata recovered enough to say, "Well if you're done with all of that, why don't the three of you sit down. Otherwise we'll never be able to eat."

Blaise was still surprised that she would be eating with the captains, given the fact that she was technically a prisoner. Still, she wasn't going to be pointing out their odd sense of etiquette, especially when it gave her some freedom. Not that Blaise was stupid enough to believe that they would just let her walk out of the compound without an escort.

Speaking of escorts, Blaise had noticed movement out of the corner of her eye as she had walked to the meeting room. In a military headquarters, it wouldn't be surprising for her to see people moving around, but this flash of movement had been just a little too consistent to be coincidence. They must have someone following her, even when inside of their own headquarters.

These guys were smarter than Blaise had thought they were. Still, as she took a seat next to Heisuke, she thought that staying here wouldn't be too bad, for a little while.

Unfortunately, she was jarred from these thoughts when the door opened once again to reveal Okita and Saito, who said, "I apologize for being late. We had some business to attend to before we could join you."

Kondou quickly waved away his apology and the group finally began eating, though Blaise was slightly uneasy to have Okita sitting so close to Bella. After a moment, she realized that Bella had probably been scared mostly because of how tense the situation had made Blaise, rather than understanding what was actually happening, so Okita's presence wouldn't scare her.

Still, she stayed tense for a moment to ensure that her sister wouldn't need a comforting gesture in their new situation. Seeing that none was needed, Blaise noticed that her sister had been given chopsticks to eat with. Blaise was surprised, but supposed that they had simply set out the trays by rote, adding two more for the sisters.

However, most children don't learn to use chopsticks until they are close to seven or eight. Until then, they generally use wooden spoons to eat, and Bella was no exception. After a moment, Blaise decided to simply feed Bella so that the child wouldn't have to eat with her fingers and get all sticky.

Shortly after the feeding had begun, with Blaise sneaking in a few bites from her own tray, an argument erupted from Heisuke and Shinpachi. Looking over, Blaise couldn't help but laugh at how they were stealing food from each other like children.

However, when Kondou began to scold them, she realized that this was probably a regular occurrence, especially considering how he even tried to drag her into the conversation with an "I'm sure that Abe-san is shocked!"

This caused Blaise to snicker softly before stating, "I don't mind what they do, so long as their table manners don't rub off on Bella," as she reached for a bit of Bella's rice.

Seeing this, Okita said, "You don't look like you're much better than them when you're stealing food from your sister's tray."

That comment both amused and angered Blaise, that he would both misunderstand and scold her for it, but she managed to talk to him in a civil voice for the first time since they had met, saying, "In case you didn't know, it's not stealing when you're giving it to the person that it belongs to. You apparently didn't notice this, but my sister is only five years old, and she was given chopsticks to eat with. The only way for her to possibly eat is to either be fed or use her fingers, and I don't want to help her wash off the mess that that would make."

Blaise may have continued, but Bella chose that moment to tug on Blaise's sleeve, silently requesting more food. So, Blaise picked up another small bite, not wanting to risk Bella choking on a too big bite of food, and fed it to her.

The captains couldn't talk for a moment, shocked by the soft look in Blaise's eyes as she fed her younger sister. Ever since the two had come, Blaise's default expression had been a frown, so seeing such a tender light in her eyes as she fed her sister, and her light laugh when Bella got some food on her face, took them all by surprise.

Heisuke had seen her smile earlier, but even he hadn't expected such a look of contentment to appear on Blaise's face as she fed her younger sister. If anything, he had expected Blaise to be irritated at having to take care of such a small child, rather than patiently catering to her needs while quietly sneaking in a bite of food every so often.

After a moment, Kondou apologized for not remembering to give proper silverware for a child of Bella's age. When Blaise turned to say that it was fine, she appeared slightly less peaceful, but even so, all of the captains could clearly tell that the hot-tempered boy they had known clearly cared for Bella, very dearly if any of them had to guess.

After a short while, they had all finished eating, even Blaise who, after finishing feeding Bella, had scarfed down all of her food as quickly as she could so as to not keep the others waiting.

Once this was done, Saito announced that it was time for Blaise to begin her duties as a member of his division. While Blaise wasn't exactly pleased with the announcement, she had already accepted it, so she turned to him and said, "Of course, just give me a moment to take Bella to our room so that she won't be running around your headquarters all day."

Hearing this, Heisuke was quick to volunteer to watch the child, eager to help his new friend. Blaise hesitated for a few seconds, but she knew that it was better than leaving Bella alone inside of a compound full of men. Hopefully Heisuke would live up to her impression of him and make sure that Bella stayed safe, especially since he was her only real option.

So, Blaise turned to Bella and told her to be a good girl and listen to Heisuke until she got back. Once Bella was happily situated in "Heisuke-nii's" lap, Blaise squared her shoulders and stood to show Saito that she was ready to begin her new job, regardless of whether she really wanted this job.


	16. Chapter 16

Blaise followed Saito quietly. He didn't seem inclined to make conversation, and Blaise somehow doubted that he would appreciate it.

As they walked, Blaise noticed that same flicker of movement outside of the corner of her eye. At first, she had thought that she might be imagining things, but everyone was supposed to be working now, which meant that there was no reason for a soldier to be hovering around them.

Still, Blaise wondered who they had chosen to spy on her. That guy from the night before was a possibility, since he had stayed in the room next to her's. But that could make it a bit obvious if he went to his room the moment she went to her's.

Then again, it didn't really matter if she knew that she was being watched if she couldn't think of a way to get away from him.

Putting thoughts of her watcher on hold, Blaise noticed that Saito had stopped at a room. Looking inside, she noticed that it seemed to be being used for storage.

Blaise curiously watched as Saito reached into a box to pull out the haori similar that Blaise had seen the captains wearing the day before.

So it was no surprise when Saito held the haori out to Blaise and said, "This is your uniform now. You don't need to wear it while in headquarters, but you should have it on when on patrol or in battle."

Blaise was so shocked by what she believed to be the longest sentence Saito had ever said in her presence, that it took her a moment to thank him for the uniform.

However, Blaise soon found that her initial impression of Saito was still correct. As the two of them walked to the dojo, Saito remained silent, though Blaise often caught him stealing glances back at her.

Honestly, it was making her nervous. What if he had noticed that she was a girl? In the past, Blaise had played the part of a man, but she had only done so to find work as a bodyguard.

Even in the modern era, many men wouldn't hire a woman as a bodyguard, so she had learned to act like a man when she had to. However, those men weren't as perceptive as Saito seemed to be, and what was even more concerning was the fact that he had seen her with her breasts unbound.

That night when she had been delivering her letter, she hadn't wanted to go through the painful process of binding her breasts, and had gone without it, believing that no one would see her anyway. It had been dark, but Saito's frequent glances were making Blaise wonder if he had noticed when he got close enough to kill the...Rasetsu?

However, Blaise didn't have a lot of time to freak herself out about her secret possibly being known. The pair had arrived at the dojo, and Saito ordered her to join the orderly lines of men waiting for instruction.

The next several hours passed in a blur as Saito directed the group to go through several exercises meant to keep them in shape and then ordered them to form pairs and spar against each other.

Blaise ended up paired up with a man named Isana Yashiro. He was a weird guy, but he made Blaise laugh, even as they continually tried to beat the living shit out of each other. Blaise nearly fell over when she had to help him up from the floor after a match, and he had told her that he had been trained in swordsmanship by his elder sister.

After laughing at Blaise's expression, he had refrained from explaining, simply stating, "Women may be weaker than men, but then, women never receive the same training as men, now do they?"

Blaise almost wanted to correct him, to tell him that she knew that better than anyone, but she refused to risk it. After all, "Shiro" may become a good friend, but she couldn't resist anyone finding out her secret.

Still, Blaise couldn't help but be curious about Shiro's elder sister. Sure, Blaise had seen Mulan, but she had kind of assumed that that was just creative liberty on the creator's part, especially after seeing how women were treated here. Blaise had assumed that she would be the only woman in this era who would know how to fight, but somehow, knowing that she wasn't alone made her feel slightly better.

_Maybe another woman knows what kind of problems I'm facing._

_Yeah, right._

Thinking such cynical thoughts, Blaise threw herself into sparring. While Shiro wasn't quite at her level, his strength and creativity kept Blaise on her toes.

In truth, that made her happy. It had been a long time since Blaise had really had to work in order to win a match like this. Fighting someone who was close to her equal made Blaise feel more normal because it meant that she wasn't the only person in the world who had worked for so many long hours to hone their skills.

It was refreshing to be able to go all out against a sparring partner without being questioned about why she had worked so hard at learning how to fight, like she had been in the modern era.

After they had finished sparring, Saito let them go for lunch, telling them to be prepared for the patrol later. Then, he and several of the men went to the well and began to start washing off the sweat.

Seeing this, Blaise panicked, for a few reasons. The first thing she felt was shock, as some of the men stripped down to their underwear to clean themselves. It wasn't the first time that Blaise had seen a naked man. She had had a few clients in the past who had thought that hiring a female bodyguard would mean that they wouldn't have to hire an . . . escort of another variety.

Needless to say, those encounters had led to Blaise being severely scolded by her boss, saying that she was supposed to protect clients, not beat the crap out of them.

Still, suddenly seeing so many men undress in front of her brought out the, albeit rare, girl inside of Blaise, causing her to blush as red as a tomato. But, what really concerned Blaise was when Shiro came over and asked, "Aren't you going to join us?"

Blaise knew that she would have to explain why she didn't want to undress in front of the other men someday. She had come up with everything from being raised conservatively to having an embarrassing birthmark.

She just didn't want to give that reason in front of a large group of men, a group that might pressure her to get over whatever her excuse was.

Luckily for Blaise, she remembered that she had the ultimate excuse: her little sister.

"I'm sorry, Shiro, but I just remembered that I promised that I would visit with my sister for a few minutes once we had finished training. Besides, there are so many other people here that it would be faster to go see her and then wash off the sweat."

Shiro looked slightly surprised, but accepted Blaise's reasons as she quickly walked away, knowing that she couldn't run away like she really wanted to.

As she walked, Blaise was surprised that Saito didn't stop her. That is, until she noticed her watcher following her and realized that **he** was the one who was supposed to keep Blaise quiet.

It took her a little while, but Blaise eventually found Bella in the yard outside of the meeting room. Bella was running around, looking like she was playing some kind of game with Heisuke.

 _Is that . . . tag?_ Blaise thought with her head cocked to the side.

Her suspicions her confirmed when Bella made a flying leap for Heisuke's back, declaring herself the winner right before Heisuke flipped over and ruffled her hair in a show of fake anger for being the loser.

The scene caused a soft smile to appear on Blaise's face, as well as a longing for something to well up in her chest. Despite this, Blaise knew that she should announce her presence before they got too carried away, stepped out from the corner she had been leaning against and said, "Now that is just not fair. I've been busy training and here you two are, playing games," with a mock pout on her face.

Hearing her sister's face, Bella ran over to her with a cry of "Onii-chan!" Blaise was quick to scoop the little girl into her arms with a smile.

Bella quickly began to tell her sister about her day, "Heisuke-nii and me were playing tag. He's really fast though, so I only caught him a few times."

Seeing the disappointment in Bella's face at not being able to catch a man easily three times her size made Blaise chuckle before she let the girl down and greeted Heisuke, who gave her the same friendly smile and asked, "So you managed to survive Saito's insane workout? Most of his new recruits end up passing out on their first couple days on training."

Blaise laughed. "It wasn't that bad. In all honesty, it wasn't that much harder than the exercises that I usually do."

"What, no way! You train like that everyday, of your own choice?"

Heisuke's shocked face made Blaise laugh again before saying, "Well, I've been working as a bodyguard for a few years now, so I had to keep in shape."

"A bodyguard?"

"Yes, after my parents died, I needed an easy way of making income, so I hired myself out to shopkeepers and the like to protect their shops from ronin."

"Huh, so that's why you're so skilled with a sword," Heisuke said in a wondering tone.

Blaise watched Bella examine a patch of flowers for a second before replying, "I suppose, but most of my work involved just getting rid of rowdy customers. Most ronin are cowards who won't go near places that look like they have samurai in them," Blaise informed Heisuke with a roll of her eyes.

Heisuke let out a small snort of agreement at Blaise's disdain for ronin before asking curiously, "But where did you learn how to use a sword? I mean, I thought that gaijin didn't really use them . . ."

Blaise gave him an amused look at his obvious attempt at avoiding causing offense. Then, she gave Heisuke the explanation that she had come up with the night before. It was mostly lies, but it had enough truth to it that Blaise wouldn't feel too guilty about telling it to Heisuke.

However, she was surprised when Kondou, Hijikata and Sannan stepped out and said that they were curious about it as well.

Realizing that they had been listening to her conversation with Heisuke, Blaise forced a laugh, feeling as though this was some kind of a test. It didn't stop her from telling the story she had created earlier, knowing that it had so many elements of truth in it that even if they spoke to Bella, most of her answers would support Blaise's story.

"Did you ever notice our surname? The truth is that Bella and I are half Japanese. Our father was Japanese, and he ran classes about swordsmanship. Ah, it wasn't a real dojo, but he taught many people how to use swords or fight hand to hand, in case they were ever attacked by ronin while traveling.

"He taught me everything he knew about swordsmanship and had to hand combat. After he died, I used those skills in order to support myself and Bella. That's why we came to Kyoto. I had hoped that I would be able to guard some small shop or something, maybe even get a job as an instructor at a dojo."

Hearing this story, all of the men gave Blaise sympathetic looks before Kondou said, "You have endured quite a lot in your time. But have no fear, we will take care of you here."

As Blaise thanked him for his sympathy, she couldn't help but wonder if his words were meant to win her loyalty, or if he really was just as much of a naive yet good-natured father figure.

Either way, living with these men was bound to be interesting, and not just because of Blaise's hidden identity.


	17. Chapter 17

Before lunch, Blaise managed to wipe off her sweat with a washcloth before any of the men came around. Unfortunately, that caused Heisuke to wonder where Blaise had gone when she finally got back to the meeting room.

Luckily, at that moment, Shinpachi had decided to steal some of Heisuke's fish, sparking an all out war in that corner of the room. Blaise watched them for a moment, thinking that this was how meals should be eaten.

Thinking that she should start feeding Bella soon so that she would be be able to eat her own food, Blaise turned to look directly into golden eyes. Once Harada saw that he had caught her notice, he smiled and said, "So, you are able to smile. I hope that this means that you've figured out that, regardless of what Okita said, none of us mean any harm to you or your sister."

Blaise was surprised that he would actually bring up Okita's threat so casually, but she thought over what he said and realized that Blaise didn't really think that they would kill Bella anymore. Blaise's life was still another matter, but as long as Bella was safe, Blaise could trust them.

Blaise replied, "You are much different from what you originally seem, even if Heisuke and Nagakura-san fight like a pair of children."

Harada laughed. "Yes, they are immature, aren't they? Though, you and Bella seem to be quite at ease around their squabbling," Harada said probingly.

Normally, Blaise would have chafed at such an inquiry, but, looking into Harada's eyes, she figured that he was asking more out of curiosity than to interrogate her, so she said, "A meal should be noisy, Harada-san."

Harada raised a brow at that before saying, "Sano is fine. And I would have thought that you would prefer a quiet meal."

Blaise took a moment to feed Bella a piece of fish while she thought of how to explain. "My father ran a dojo. A lot of the time, his students would bring some kind of food for my mother to cook, and then we would all eat together. His students were always loud, but my mother never minded. She always complained about having to cook extra food all the time, but she would also be the first one to offer them more food when they emptied their plates."

"That sounds fun." Blaise had been so focused on trying to explain her feelings that she hadn't noticed that the fighting had stopped and everyone in the room was listening to her until Heisuke spoke.

Blaise blushed and tried to think of a way to redirect the attention, but Shinpachi had a question for her. "It sounds like you loved it there, so why did you leave?"

Blaise hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided that she had already begun the story with the truth, she might as well finish it honestly. "My parents died four years ago. I was too young to take over the dojo, and the other instructors didn't want to work for a kid anyway. For a while, they would come to our house every so often, but Bella and I don't have any relatives, and I think that they were scared that if they came over too often, they'd end up having to take responsibility for us."

"So you've been alone since your parents' deaths?" Hijikata asked with what Blaise was almost convinced was sympathy in his eye.

"There was an elderly couple that let us stay with them for a few months," Blaise surprised herself with her own honesty. She hadn't intended to bring Taro and Ai into this, but somehow the story came out anyway. "They ran a small shop, and Bella and I would help them when I wasn't working in town. But one day, a customer called me and Bella out about being foreigners, and it would have caused a lot of trouble if we had continued to stay with them. I figured that since Kyoto is more open to foreigners, I might be able to find work and a place for the two of us to stay here."

The room fell silent for a moment as all of the men absorbed this new information. Surprising everyone, it was Saito who broke the silence. "I hope that you don't mind my prying, but I wasn't aware that foreign dojos taught kenjutsu."

"They probably don't, but I'm not really sure. Our father was Japanese and Bella and I have lived in Japan our entire lives. We picked up our foreign accents from our mother, I suppose," Blaise explained, feeling slightly guilty for the lie.

To the men who hadn't heard this lie before, they thought that it made sense. It certainly explained why the two had already mastered Japanese, which, for a child of Bella's age, was certainly unusual. It also explained why it appeared as though Blaise had studied kenjutsu for many years, despite it being a rarity for foreigners to have ever seen a katana, much less use one, prior to arriving in Japan.

Sannan wanted to ask Blaise how they had survived since their parents' deaths, since she had only accounted for a few months out of four years, but he was stopped by Kondou. Earlier, Kondou had felt guilty for Blaise having to rush eating her own meal on account of feeding Bella and seeing Blaise begin to do so again now, reminded him of the wooden spoon that he had had Inoue find before the meal.

When Kondou reached over to hand the utensil to Bella, Blaise looked up in surprise, but, realizing what he was doing, settled for giving him a grateful smile and saying, "Bella, why don't you thank Kondou-san for his help."

Bella, still uncertain about the Shinsengumi members with the exception of Heisuke, peered out at Kondou from behind her hair before mumbling, "Thank you very much."

This interaction gave Shinpachi just the excuse he needed to start teasing Blaise, saying, "We wouldn't want Blaise here to have to do another dine and dash technique."

Blaise blushed while Heisuke tried to defend her by pointing out that Shinpachi's eating habits weren't much better. Before long, the war had resumed, despite Hijikata's best efforts to stop them.

After a moment, Blaise turned back to her sister, only to see Sano wiping Bella's mouth to get rid of some rice that had gotten stuck to it. The fact that rice was on Bella's face wasn't really that shocking, but Blaise was surprised that Sano was going to the trouble of wiping it off for her. In Blaise's experience, the men in this era typically left everything regarding children to women.

Sensing her gaze, Sano looked up and said, "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I thought that you could use a little break from your sister."

Blaise was surprised. In the last four years, there had certainly been times that Blaise had wanted to get away from her sister. It wasn't that she resented Bella, but sometimes she just wanted a break, some time to herself where she wasn't doing paperwork, guarding some rich asshole, or raising her sister. No one had ever really noticed before or if they had, they had never bothered to help her.

So seeing Sano, a man who she had only talked to for about ten minutes, help her was a shock. If he had known that Blaise was a girl, she would have thought that he was doing so in order to get into her pants. Even dressed as a man, Blaise considered that he was trying to get into her pants. But, there was something about him that put Blaise at ease, similar to the comfort that she got when she was around Heisuke but stronger.

After thanking him, Blaise ate her meal in silence, trying to figure out why she was so comfortable with these people, when she was normally so cautious, especially about people who had essentially taken her as a prisoner.


	18. Chapter 18

After lunch was finished, Blaise had a few hours of free time before she had to go one patrol with Saito. During this time, she and Heisuke played with Bella. Well, Heisuke played with Bella while Blaise kept them from doing anything too crazy, before she joined in on the craziness.

After an hour, Heisuke had to leave for his own division to go on patrol, and Blaise taught Bella how to make a chain out of flowers. Leaning back, Blaise watched her sister play with flowers while wondering what she should do about her watcher.

Even if she hadn't noticed him watching her, Blaise would have felt his eyes boring into her back for several hours straight. Being watched like that was slowly driving Blaise crazy.

In a way, it kind of explained why so many of Blaise's clients in the past would be assholes. If they had felt half as uncomfortable as Blaise did at being watched so closely, she could easily see them getting pissed off with her.

Then again, they hadn't been all that nice when she had first met them, either. . .

Blaise was jarred from her thoughts by Saito walking up and blocking the sun from her face. His sudden appearance nearly gave Blaise a heart attack, something which Saito didn't seem to have any sympathy for as he told her that they would be leaving for patrol in five minutes.

Almost as soon as he left, Heisuke popped in with Shinpachi, though their arrival was much less frightening than Saito. Seriously, Blaise thought that she would be having a few dreams about stupid ninja samurai appearing out of nowhere with stony faces. Blaise shuddered at the thought of that becoming a regular occurrence.

Heisuke informed Blaise, "So Saito managed to sneak up on you, too. He always manages to sneak up when people least expect it. I swear he's shaved years off of people's lives with that trick of his."

Blaise quickly agreed and said, "I'm sorry but could you watch Bella for me while I am on patrol?"

He agreed saying that Bella was becoming like his own sister, something which warmed Blaise's heart, regardless of how much she tried to suppress it. She received another shock when Shinpachi crouched down next to Bella to say, "And how unfortunate for her that she has to call a shrimp like you her brother."

This sparked a minor skirmish between the two, while the sisters stared. Blaise was uncertain about leaving this odd man alone with her sister, while Bella was slightly more optimistic, having noticed how close Shinpachi and Heisuke seemed to be.

Heisuke, apparently the more observant of the two, noticed Blaise's uncertainty and said, "Hey, this guy's an idiot, but he's a good idiot."

This of course led to a fistfight, which, oddly enough, made Blaise burst out laughing. At the sound of Blaise's laughter, the combatants topped moving, trying to figure out what had caused her sudden mirth.

Seeing their shocked expressions, Blaise tried to explain, "Sorry, it's just been a long time since I last saw two people fight so often without one of them dying."

Shinpachi grinned. "Yeah well, it wouldn't be much fun around here without the squirt, so I can't kill him just yet," he said as he ruffled Heisuke's hair. Then, realizing that they had never been properly introduced, he added, "I'm Shinpachi, and the kid's right. I'll make sure that no one bothers your sister."

"Actually, I'm more worried that my sister is going to pick up on your table manners than about her being injured," Blaise said drily.

Heisuke pointed at Blaise, saying, "See, everyone thinks that the way you eat is disgusting!"

Blaise laughed and watched the ensuing fight for a moment before remembering that she had to get going. Leaving Bella in the care of the two men, Blaise barely had time to run to her room to grab her haori before she was late for the patrol.

She was sure that when she arrived, Saito would chew her out about almost being late, but, surprisingly enough, he only told her to walk beside him and began to lead the patrol into the city.

Blaise was slightly amused by the fact that he had put her right at the front of the patrol. She was already being followed by someone who may or may not be that Yamazaki guy, and he still thought that there was enough of a chance of her escaping to keep her both close and in easy view of all of the men.

In all honesty, Blaise didn't know whether to be flattered that he had such faith in her abilities, or to be insulted that he thought that she would leave Bella behind. Blaise didn't get the chance to consider her emotions for long before she noticed that Saito was still glancing at her every few seconds.

Glancing back, Blaise saw that all of the other men were talking amongst themselves and likely wouldn't be listening in on her conversation. A very good thing, considering that the constant glances were very desperately testing Blaise's sanity.

Deciding to take a direct approach, Blaise asked, "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

For a moment, Blaise thought that Saito was planning on just ignoring her question. Just as she was about to repeat it, he quietly said, "I never got the chance to thank you."

"Huh?"

"The other day, I would have been injured by that ronin if you had not steeped in to help me. I am truly grateful for your help."

Blaise couldn't help it. Hearing such a silly reason for this man to have been nervous around her after she had been worrying about it for so long, she couldn't contain her laughter, even when the rest of the division stopped talking in order to stare at her.

Saito watched her the entire time with a small frown on his face, so, when Blaise was finally able to stop laughing and the conversations had started back up, Blaise asked, " **That's** the reason you kept glancing at me like that?"

Saito waited a moment before saying, "I was also wondering why you helped me." Seeing Blaise's surprised expression, he continued, "You were correct to run from me that night in the alley. I would have killed you if you had stayed. When you saw me again, you could have allowed me to die and avoided quite a bit of trouble for yourself and your sister. So, why did you save me?" he said, finally looking Blaise in the eye.

Then, it was Blaise's turn to stay silent. She knew why she had helped him, but she wasn't sure how to explain it to another person. She tried anyway, slowly saying, "It's not that I wanted to help you. It's more that, when I saw you about to be attacked, I knew that you would die if I didn't help you, and I didn't care. But, I knew that someone probably would. I didn't want them to have to feel that, and I wanted to show Bella that there are some good people in the world." Blaise considered going on, but figured that she wouldn't be able to explain it any better even if she did continue, so she chose to simply add, with more confidence, "There's also the part where you **did** save my life, even if you intended to kill me afterwards."

Saito stared at her for a short time before saying, "Then, I appreciate your help as well, regardless of your reasons for it."

The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes, though it didn't bother Blaise nearly as much now that she knew the reason that he kept staring at her. It wasn't that he had noticed her femininity, but that he hadn't been certain about what to make of her.

Blaise couldn't help giggling a little bit at the thought that this tough man who seemed like he would be able to kill without even hesitating was tripped up by something so simple that few people would even care about. It was so cute.

As Blaise giggled, she looked towards Saito and noticed something that she had missed earlier. Saito kept his swords strapped to the right side of his waist. Without even thinking about it, Blaise asked, "You're left handed, Saito-san?"

Saito looked at her with a dark look in his eyes before he nodded. If Blaise didn't know better, she would have thought that he was upset, which didn't make any sense to her. He was obviously a great swordsman, she had seen that the other night, so why was he so upset about being her noticing which side he strapped his swords on?

After a moment, Blaise remember that the people in this era thought that those who are left handed tend to be abused, something about them being connected to demons or something. That was the reason that Blaise had taken to carrying her swords on her left side, but she had been doing so for so long that she had forgotten about it.

Trying to figure out a way to soothe Saito's probably bruised feelings, Blaise recalled her desire to fight against someone who would challenge her and said, "Then would you mind sparring with me sometime?"

Blaise was worried for a moment that she might have offended him again, until he said, "It would likely be better for you to fight against someone who has a normal handedness, you will encounter it more often."

Blaise took her chance and said, "Yeah but I thought you might be able to help me use my left hand to fight." Seeing Saito's surprised expression, Blaise quickly pressed on, "I'm not sure how it's said in Japanese, but in my mother's language, it's called ambidextrous. I don't have a dominant hand, though I usually prefer to use my left."

When Saito's gaze drifted to her waist, Blaise knew that he was considering the possibility that she was lying, so she explained, "I prefer my left hand, but it can be rather difficult in Japan. Since I was already attracting attention by traveling with a child as young as Bella, I didn't want to attract even more by showing people that I fight left handed."

"But, when the ronin attacked, you used a right handed sword stance," Saito said curiously.

"I did. If I had taken the time to shift my sword to my left hand, you would have died before I could reach you." Blaise saw that Saito was considering her answers, so she pressed him to answer her earlier question. "Would you mind sparring with me sometime later? It's pretty rare for me to meet another person who fights left handed, so I've gotten used to fighting against right handed opponents. It would be interesting to fight against someone else who uses their left hand, especially since I've never tried it before."

Saito saw the sincerity in Blaise's eyes, and agreed to spar with her later, surprised that he had met another person who also fought with their left hand.

After the two of them made their deal, they walked in silence for the rest of the patrol, though Blaise thought that it wasn't as oppressive as it had been earlier.


	19. Chapter 19

The rest of the patrol passed by uneventfully. Blaise spent most of the time mentally going through the various techniques that she used when fighting left handed, trying to figure out a way to adjust them so that she would be able to effectively fight against other left handed opponents.

It was something that Blaise had never had to think about before. Even in the modern era, all people were taught to fight right handed. It was simply easier for them since most instructors were right handed and there were still the rare few who saw something wrong with being left handed.

In this era, that prejudice was even more severe, so Blaise had expected that she would never find someone who used left handed sword techniques until she met Saito.

Who'd have thought that she would find someone else who fought left handed not in the modern era, but two hundred years earlier?

As they arrived at headquarters, Blaise pulled herself from these thoughts, and tried to figure out where Heisuke and possibly Shinpachi would have taken her sister. Realizing how little that she knew about either of them, Blaise turned to Saito and asked, "Do you know where Heisuke and Shinpachi would be around this time?"

Saito looked surprised but said, "They would normally have gone out for drinks by this time."

That answer both worried and angered Blaise. While she wasn't exactly mad at the two men, she was angry that she hadn't even thought to ask where she would be able to find Bella when she got back. When had Blaise become so careless?

Still, she calmed herself enough to ask, "On the nights when they don't go out drinking, where do they usually go?" Seeing Saito look at her curiously, Blaise explained, "They have my sister."

"Oh." After a moment, Saito said, "In that case, they may be in the meeting room or the courtyard."

"Thank you," Blaise said as she began running in that direction. Then, remembering their earlier conversation, she shouted over her shoulder, "And let me know when you want to have that match."

Blaise was so focused on finding Bella before anything could happen to her that she didn't notice Saito watching her curiously.

In the end, Saito was right about Bella's whereabouts.

When Blaise got to the meeting room, she walked in to find Heisuke and Shinpachi leaning against the wall joking around. Blaise was about ready to yell at them for not watching Bella when a noise caused her to look to the side only to see something that Blaise had never expected to see.

Bella was sitting on Sannan's lap. Blaise was so shocked by this that she couldn't move for a moment. Sure, Sannan had seemed nice enough, but the man had seemed to exude a faint aura of ruthlessness to Blaise.

On top of that, Bella had always been wary of people who didn't have her sister's approval. It had been a natural instinct born due to being an orphan living in a bad part of town, even with a big sister watching over her. As a result, Bella had never trusted people, even children her own age, until Blaise had showed her approval for them.

Seeing Bella break that habit after so long very nearly caused Blaise to go completely catatonic, and she probably would have stared at the two of them for several more minutes if Harada hadn't looked up and said, "Hey Bella-chan, it looks like your onii-chan is here."

Bella quickly scrambled off of Sannan's lap to run at Blaise. Still reeling from the recent turn of events, only the force of habit caused Blaise to reach down and pick up Bella when she got close.

Oblivious to her sister's shock, Bella happily chattered away about what had happened while Blaise was on patrol, "After you left Heisuke-nii and Shinpachi-nii played with me for a long time. Then we came here and Sannan-san taught me how to draw."

Recovering slightly, Blaise weakly asked, "He taught you how to draw?"

At this, Sannan looked guilty and said, "Ah, Bella-chan was curious about how to write in kanji. I apologize if it upset you, but I thought that it would be beneficial if the child at least learned the basics."

Shaking herself, Blaise finally managed to regain the ability to carry on a conversation. "Ah, no, I mean, I appreciate it." Blushing, Blaise continued, I've been meaning to teach Bella how to write in kanji and hiragana for a long time, but I just never had enough time to really teach her. Thank you for helping me with that."

Sannan didn't even try to hide his surprise as he replied, "It was not a problem. The child is an eager student." Sannan peered at Blaise for a moment before cautiously saying, "I understand that some people believe that teaching a girl too much about intellectual matters, it will ruin them. However, if you are agreeable to it, then I would very much like to continue to teach Bella-chan how to read and write."

Blaise was surprised, both by his offer and by the fact that she had forgotten this basic fact. Most women in this era only knew how to read basic hiragana and only noble women ever learned how to even sign their name in kanji, much less anything else.

Blaise's ability to read and write in both had been one of the things that had shocked the Abe couple the most about her, though they eventually accepted it as just another one of the girl's peculiarities.

Despite it being uncommon, Blaise had been meaning to teach Bella more kanji, figuring that it would either be a useful skill and, possibly, a way for the child to gain more freedom.

Hearing Sannan offer to fulfill that goal, Blaise hesitated only out of concern for leaving her sister alone with him. Then, she realized that she couldn't stay with Bella anyway when she was training or on patrol, so it wasn't like she would have a lot of time to teach her. Besides, these men might be soldiers, but even soldiers will often hesitate before they harm a child. It was the mercenaries and war veterans from third world countries who were usually able to do so without thinking.

With that in mind, Blaise said hesitantly, "If you have the time for it, then I would appreciate it if you could teach Bella how to read and write in kanji." Misinterpreting Sannan's surprise, Blaise quickly said, "Ah, it's okay if you only want to teach her hiragana. I know that kanji is much more difficult to explain, and if you don't have the time-"

Sannan cut her off, stating, "Nonsense. Bella-chan is a very eager and worthy student. If you would be so kind to leave her with me while you are training with the third division, then I would be honored to be able to teach her."

Blaise smiled gratefully, making a note to find some way to repay the man for his kindness at a later date. She was jolted from these thoughts when Shinpachi laughed and said, "I wouldn't be so sure that you should agree to that when it's going to give you so much extra laundry in the future."

Blaise blinked at him for a moment before she looked down, noticing the black stains covering the front of Bella's yukata and, now, her own. Seeing the surprise on her face, all of the other men looked down to see what Shinpachi meant, and belatedly recalled the events that had caused Sannan to begin Bella's lesson.

_Heisuke and Shinpachi had been playing with Bella out in the yard for almost an hour. Suddenly the little girl stopped and looked towards the meeting room where she could see Sannan writing something through the open door._

_Once Heisuke and Shinpachi realized what Bella was staring at, they turned to her in order to suggest that they find somewhere else to play. Unfortunately, their suggestion came too late as Bella had already taken off, intent on seeing what Sannan was doing._

_Sannan heard her footsteps once she reached the wooden walkway and looked up to see a little girl running towards him. He had noticed her earlier, but had assumed that she was a docile and obedient child from the way that she hadn't said a word the day before. This was clearly not the case however._

_Before he was able to contemplate the sudden change in Bella's behavior, the child tripped and fell onto the table that Sannan had been writing on._

_Luckily, he had been reading over his papers, so they weren't scattered when the table was upended, but the force caused the inkwell to fly off of the table, covering the girl's clothes in black ink._

_Sannan immediately reached for her, concerned that she may be hurt, but was stopped by Bella asking, "Are you drawing those little stick things?"_

" _What?"_

" _All the signs and papers here are marked with little marks that kind of look like stick figures. You were painting on the paper, so I thought that you might be drawing them too."_

_Heisuke and Shinpachi arrived in time to hear Bella's question, but even they couldn't figure out what she meant by "stick things."_

_After a moment of thinking it over, Sannan took a guess as to what she meant. "Do you mean kanji?"_

" _Oh yeah, that's what Onii-chan calls them,," Bella replied with a nod. "He draws them really prettily. Are you doing that too?"_

_Still slightly surprised by the change in the girl's personality, Sannan couldn't help but think that this child seemed curious about kanji. What other reason would she have to run over here on just the thought of Sannan writing with them? With this in mind, Sannan asked, "Would you like to learn how to write your name in kanji?"_

_And so the lesson had begun._

After a while, the men had forgotten about the spilled ink, too amused by Bella's clear fascination and enjoyment in learning how to write.

Seeing how Blaise's clothing had been harmed by it however, Sannan began to feel guilty and so suggested, "Why don't the two of you go to take a bath together before dinner?"

Blaise knew that if she gave Bella a bath now, she would probably need to giver her another one after the meal, but, at the same time, she couldn't stand the idea of staying in clothing covered in ink. It was one thing to wear blood-stained clothes in battle, at that point she was so focused on the fight she wouldn't even notice. It was something else entirely to wear dirty clothes when she had nothing to distract her. Besides, that ink had to be scrubbed out, and soon, otherwise there would be permanent stains on both of their clothes.

However, Blaise was concerned about bathing at this time. It wouldn't surprise her if some of the men had decided to bathe after their training and patrols, and even if they hadn't yet, they could at any time after she had started bathing.

Blaise had figured that she would probably have to take her baths either very early in the morning or at midnight in order to avoid the men, but she couldn't risk raising the captains' suspicions by refusing to bathe when she so clearly needed it.

Blaise was saved though when Sano misread her hesitation and offered to guard the door of the bathhouse so that none of the men would walk in on the two sisters bathing.

Blaise couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at yet another near discovery passed her by.


	20. Chapter 20

As the trio walked towards the bathhouse, Blaise worried over Bella's recent activities. She had become her normal, outgoing self in a very short amount of time, causing Blaise to marvel over how adaptable children really were.

Sano picked up on Blaise's concern and said, "Hey, Sannan-san really didn't mean to cause you any trouble. He just wanted to help."

Surprised, Blaise looked up at him and shook her head. "That's not it. Really, it's just . . . It's not about Sannan, really."

Sano said nothing to Blaise's slightly incoherent assurance, instead choosing to continue looking at her as they walked. This caused Blaise to look towards where Bella had run ahead of them. Seeing Bella so happy despite her concerns made Blaise want to talk to somebody, and since Sano was right there, Blaise found all of her inner thoughts just coming out in a rush, despite her wanting to maintain some distance from the members of the Shinsengumi

"After our parents died, we ended up having to move out of our house. I loved that house, but I just couldn't afford its upkeep or take the time to keep it clean. Unfortunately, after that, the only place that we could go was the slums. For more than three years, we lived next door to murderers and rapists, as well as the occasional petty thief.

"Of course, they left us alone after they saw my sword skills, probably to move on to less dangerous targets. But Bella saw how many people tried to hurt us in those first few months before we gained a reputation in the area, and it, I guess it caused her to shut people out. I mean, she'll still talk to people, but she only lets her real personality, her fun-loving and energetic self, show around people who I've approved of.

"But here, she's warmed up to all of you so fast. Sure, I approved of Heisuke and Shinpachi, but, other than that, it was all her.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Bella is learning to trust her own instincts about people, and that she is learning to trust others again, it's just that I . . ."

"You get worried that her trusting us so quickly is going to get her hurt one day, maybe not by us, but by someone that she meets one day," Sano surmised.

Blaise nodded guiltily. "It probably sounds stupid, but Bella was the only reason that I had to keep on living. And now, she's opening herself up to so many risks by trusting people. Look, I know that you're probably thinking that trusting people is a great thing, and I **do** know that, but I also know what can happen if that trust is mislaid. I've seen what can happen, and when I think of it happening to Bella, I just-"

"You're not wrong," Sano cut in. Seeing the shock on Blaise's face, he smiled gently and said, "It's true that great relationships come from trusting other people, but, as you said, trusting others can also cause great pain, especially to a child as gentle as Bella-chan. Any good father would worry about it."

The comfort that Blaise had taken from Sano's speech was dissipated when she realized that he had misunderstood a basic fact, causing him to give this speech.

"Bella is my sister, Sano-san, not my daughter."

Sano smiled again and admitted, "By blood, she is your sister. But I talked a fair deal with her earlier today, and do you know what she wanted to talk about? She wanted to talk about her onii-chan, and how he has always been there. I know that you aren't her father by blood, but you have become a parent to her by circumstance, and that tie is stronger than any bond between a blood related parent and child. I've seen it before, with Souji and Kondou-san."

"But I'm a bad parent. I don't know what I'm doing half of the time. How is that taking good care of Bella? Not to mention, yeah, I'm worried about her being hurt, but I'm also lonely now that she is talking to others. And **I'm** supposed to be a good parent? Even with all of that?" Blaise let out in an anguished speech, knowing that she would regret letting her guard down around a stranger, but needing someone, anyone, to know that she wasn't as good a guardian for Bella as she let on.

However, instead of regarding her in disgust as she had expected, Sano said, "Isn't that normal? Don't all parents want to take care of their children and get lonely when they start to grow up?" Sano put a hand on Blaise's shoulder and turned her head towards him, "Blaise, most people become parents when they're in their twenties, or maybe their late teens. You have been raising Bella since you were fourteen, earlier if you factor in the fact that your parents were always too busy to take care of your sister. Of course you don't have all the answers, but you have done the best that you could. And that's more than many people can say, even when they're raising children who they gave birth to. Blaise, you **are** Bella's father in all the ways that matter, and you are a damn good one, at that, otherwise the two of you never would have survived this long."

As Sano finished speaking, Bella called out to them to hurry up. However, Sano kept Blaise in place for a moment until he saw in Blaise's eyes that she understood what Sano meant.

As the two of them once more began walking after Bella, Blaise couldn't help but feel a little shy at the fact that she had just told this near-stranger thoughts and emotion that she had kept hidden for years. She wanted to hide from him, to take back all of the doubts that she had unwittingly told him.

At the same time, she felt as though a weight had lifted. Blaise didn't fully believe in Sano's words, but she was also reassured by the strength of his conviction, so that, even if she didn't believe them, she knew that Sano believed them. It helped, knowing that someone believed in her, even if she couldn't do the same for herself.

Still, there was one thing that Blaise was curious about. After a minute, she finally mustered up the courage to tentatively ask, "How did you know about our parents?"

Sano looked surprised, but sheepishly replied, "Like I said, I talked with Bella earlier. She told me that even when your parents were alive, you were usually the one who cooked for her and who cleaned up after her because they usually weren't at home."

"Oh."

After that, silence reigned between the two adults as they followed a cheerful Bella towards the bathhouse. It was a peaceful walk for Blaise, until she realized that her watcher was standing closer to her than he had before.

When she realized that, Blaise was filled with a mixture of anger and humiliation. It was one thing to talk to Sano about her doubts, it was another thing for a stranger who she wasn't even sure that she knew the name of to eavesdrop on said conversation.

For a moment, Blaise considered calling him out and beating him to a bloody pulp in order to get it through his head that there were some lines that you shouldn't cross. As soon as that thought crossed her mind though, Blaise realized that she really didn't have the right to judge her watcher. If she had been assigned to follow somebody, she probably would have listened in as well.

That knocked some of the wind out of her sails, but it also firmed her resolve to not show any more weakness in front of these people.

When they finally arrived at the bathhouse, Sano went in first to make sure it was empty and then told them that he would wait outside to make sure that none of the men came in after them.

Once inside, Blaise hurriedly undressed herself and Bella, aware that Sano would only be able to keep the men out for so long.

As she hurriedly cleaned the ink off of the two of them, Blaise couldn't help but think that it had been a very strange today.

Bella hadn't been the only one who had gotten comfortable among the Shinsengumi members. Blaise hadn't bonded with the coworkers that she had worked with for years, but she had somehow bonded with several of the captains in the course of a day.

She was snapped out of these thoughts when she heard a noise come from the front of the bathhouse. However, when no one appeared in the bath, she assumed that a man had tried to come in for a bath and Sano had stopped in.

Still, it reminded Blaise that she didn't have all the time in the world, and she began to hurriedly scrub off the rest of the ink.

When she had finally finished, she dried herself and Bella and went to the baskets where she had left their clothes, only to find them missing.

Blaise panicked, knowing that it must have been the person that she had heard earlier, but unable to come up with a reason for them to take them. Did they think that she was hiding some sort of valuable in her clothes? A note containing information that she had gathered?

Blaise was given the answer of who had taken her clothes when she heard voices talking outside. She considered retreating back to the bath to hide her body, but she knew that she needed her clothes in order to keep her secret.

Blaise tucked her towel closer to her body and poked her head through the door of the bathhouse to find Sannan about to hand off her clothes to Sano.

Seeing her both men looked surprised, but Sannan was quick to explain, "I apologize if it scared you to find your clothes missing, but I knew that if they weren't washed quickly, then the ink stains would be permanent. As it was my fault that you and your sister got ink on your clothes, I took the liberty of taking your clothes and washing them while you were in the bath. I had thought that I would be able to finish before you finished, but it appears that I was wrong."

"Oh," Blaise said, for a moment unable to think of anything else. She recovered quickly enough to remember her manners and thanked Sannan for washing their clothes.

However, Sano stopped Sannan before he handed Blaise her clothes, saying softly, "Abe-kun, I am aware that you don't know us well, but, if you are injured, please do tell us and we can give you lighter tasks until you heal."

"What are you talking about?" Blaise said, honestly confused.

"When I was washing your clothing, I noticed that there was a long bandage. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that it seems as though it had some sweat on it. Are you injured, Abe-kun, and trying to take care of it yourself?"

"Oh," Blaise said again. _I really need to expand on my vocabulary around these people. I'm just lucky that he assumed that I'm injured, rather than using the bandage to flatten my chest. But for now, should I tell him that I'm injured so he doesn't find me out? That wouldn't be fun. How do I get out of this? Oh, that might work._

"Ah, I'm sorry for worrying you Sannan-san, but, really, I'm not hurt. See, those bandages don't have any blood on them." Seeing that neither man looked convinced, Blaise continued, "I keep those bandages for emergencies. I get into fights pretty often, and Bella can be pretty reckless when she plays. So I always keep at least a couple bandages on me in case I need them when I don't expect to."

Seeing that this mollified the men, Blaise quickly took her clothes and all but ran back into the bathhouse before they had a chance to ask her any more questions.


	21. Chapter 21

As Blaise dressed herself and Bella, she couldn't help but think about how close her secret had come to being discovered so many times, and in only one day. She needed to figure out a better way to keep her secret, and she needed to decide if she was willing to risk their lives on the kindness of strangers rather than risking their lives trying to escape.

Soon.

But Blaise knew that she didn't have the time to consider all of the possible consequences of her decisions, so she didn't bother trying. Instead, she quickly put on her hakama and then reached for her swords.

Once she picked them up, she wondered how she should put her swords on. The only reason that she had been wearing them on her left side was because so many people in Japan were biased against those who were left handed. She had assumed that the members of the Shinsengumi would be the same, so she had continued to wear her swords on her left side so as to avoid any added prejudice against her.

But Saito had worn his swords on his right side and had even been made a high ranking member of the Shinsengumi. Blaise hadn't been lying earlier. She did prefer to fight using her left hand, and it would seem that she might be able to do so here without facing any penalties. But should she try it?

For all Blaise knew, these men allowed Saito to fight left handed because he was one of them. They could react violently to an outsider doing the same. On the other hand, wearing her swords on her right side would allow Blaise to fight with much more ease and skill.

After a few moments, Blaise decided to wear her swords on her right side, figuring that if it should become a problem, she would be able to protect herself and Bella better by being able to fight with her preferred hand.

When the two sisters finally exited the bathhouse, Sano was waiting for them just outside the door. They didn't say anything as the two elders followed behind Bella, who had, typically, run on ahead of them.

Blaise had never minded silence, but at this moment she would have preferred it if Sano had started talking. Earlier, Blaise had told him one of her deepest fears, and, while it had made her feel better, she couldn't help but feel shy now that this stranger knew more about the inner workings of her mind than anyone else.

It didn't help that a man whose name she might not even know had also heard those same fears. Yeah, Blaise was definitely going to need to figure out a way to talk to her watcher, if only to convince him to forget about what he had heard.

When Blaise and Sano finally got to the meeting room, Bella was seated in Sannan's lap. This wouldn't have bother Blaise if the light hadn't reminded her that she had been so distracted that she had forgotten to comb Bella's hair.

Both of the sisters had such thick hair that brushing it while it was dry was very nearly impossible. Normally, Blaise made sure to brush Bella's hair as soon as they were out of the bath so that it wouldn't have the chance to dry.

Blaise could handle ripping her own hair out with a brush, but Bella always put up a huge fight about it. In the light of the room, Blaise could tell that if she didn't come Bella's hair soon, she would have a nightmare trying to do so in the morning.

With that thought in mind, Blaise called Bella to sit in front of her and took a comb out from a pocket of her hakama. She was so absorbed in the task of untangling the little girl's hair before it dried that she didn't notice all of the other captains staring at her as they walked into the room.

She probably wouldn't have noticed them staring until she was finished if Heisuke and Shinpachi hadn't come in carrying everyone's food.

"What the-? What are you doing over there, Blaise?" Heisuke asked, confused.

Blaise looked up and said, "I'm combing Bella's hair. Why do you sound so shocked?" As she said this, Blaise looked around the room and saw all of the attention was on her. "What?"

"Nothing's wrong, exactly," Sano was quick to assure her. "We're just a little surprised to see a man combing a child's hair."

_Shit, that's right. Men in this era normally leave everything about children to women. Well, I guess the most reasonable excuse is the truth, in this case anyway._

"Well, our mother died years ago, and Bella is too young to really comb her own hair. I mean, she'll try, but then she'll just end up ripping the snarls out and cry. So, I do it for her, so that she doesn't end up bald or with dreadlocks."

"We didn't mean any offense, Abe-kun," Sannan said. "We were simply surprised that you would be willing to comb Bella's hair. Do you always do this?"

Blaise nodded. "I'm the only one who is willing to comb Bella's hair. I usually do it before we leave the bathhouse, but I didn't want to keep all of you waiting. If it bothers you to watch, I can comb her hair in our room."

"Not at all," Kondou was quick to say. "We were simply surprised. It's not often that you see a young man who cares so much for his siblings."

"She's my baby sister, it's normal for me to care about her," Blaise said while blushing. Then, she noticed Sannan looking at her hand, or, more specifically, the comb in her hand. Deciding that it would be easier to explain rather than let him come to his own conclusions, like it being stolen, Blaise said, "This comb was given to me by Ai-san. I told you about her earlier, she and her husband took us in."

"They must care about you rather deeply," Sannan said suspiciously. "That comb looks to be good quality and has hand carved designs. It wouldn't have been cheap."

Blaise bristled. "It probably wasn't, but she hadn't used it in years. It belonged to their daughter and she left it behind when she got married. Apparently the comb's designs were too simple for her, she wanted something more ornate. Ai-san told me that she didn't want it either, so she gave it to me," she explained as calmly as she could. After all, in their position, Blaise would have been suspicious too. Then, Blaise realized that this conversation gave her the opportunity to explain away another possession that could cast suspicion on her, and quickly said, "Ai-san was always telling me how expensive it is to buy everything that a girl needs, so she gave me some things that she knew that Bella would need, like this comb. She also gave a kimono that her daughter left behind. It's a little old, but she said that Bella could wear it when she got older and it doesn't really weigh anything, so I took it with us."

The captains looked surprised at this statement. _Huh, maybe they didn't search my bag already. Or they just thought that I wouldn't volunteer that information._

Shortly after that, everyone began to eat their food. Blaise was mildly amazed that less than five minutes into the meal, Heisuke and Shinpachi had already started fighting. Looking at them she shook her head and couldn't help but pray that Bella wasn't absorbing any of this behavior.

She probably would have been a bit more worried, but she was more preoccupied with Bella. Blaise figured that she wouldn't always be able to get a spoon for Bella while living with a bunch of samurai, so she had decided to teach Bella how to use chopsticks. After all, most children Bella's age could at least eat larger bits of food with them, and Blaise would rather have Bella learn sooner rather than later in case anyone else questioned their nationality.

Blaise knew that eating with chopsticks wouldn't prove anything, but it would hopefully discourage it. It wasn't like there were Asian fusions restaurants in this era, so most foreigners had never used chopsticks prior to their arrival. As a result, most people assumed that anyone who could eat with them was Japanese. Of course, that would all be ruined the second they heard Bella's accent, but it was still a start.

Eventually, Sano even leaned over to help her teach Bella. Even though Blaise tried to fight it, she couldn't deny the warmth that blossomed in her chest as she was surrounded by the laughter and smiles of the captains who had welcomed the sisters into their lives.


	22. Chapter 22

After a while, everyone had finished the tea that had been brought into the room. Inoue had begun to get up, but Blaise stopped him, saying that she would bring it. Inoue tried to stop her, but she just said, "Don't worry about it, I was shown where the kitchen was earlier. I don't mind getting more tea."

Inoue would have begun to protest, but Saito cut him off. "Abe-kun, I was the one who showed you around the headquarters, but I don't recall showing you where the kitchen is."

Seeing that suspicion towards her was starting rise, Blaise quickly said, "One of the other guys in the division pointed it out to me after practice."

Blaise was glad that the captains didn't press to know more details, especially considering that she had lied. But, if she was right, she didn't really need to know where the kitchen was at the moment.

Leaving Bella under Sano's tutelage, Blaise walked out of the room. After she had walked far enough away from the room that she thought that no one would be able to see her, she quietly called out, "I know you're watching me, so come out. I want to talk."

When she got no reply, Blaise began to consider that he might not be watching her at the moment, but dismissed the idea as she could still feel eyes watching her. Then she began to think about her suspicions about her watcher.

_I'm still not sure if it's really him or not. But, he obviously won't come out until he knows he's been caught, and this is my best bet. Besides, it's not like I really have anything to lose, it there?_

"Come out already, Yamazaki-san."

Blaise waited a moment, certain that she had guessed wrong and that her watcher was someone else entirely. But she didn't doubt herself for long as Yamazaki reluctantly stepped up behind her.

"How did you know that I was following you?"

"I used to work as a bodyguard. It was my job to protect people. After a while, you learn to notice when someone is following you. After that, it was just a matter of figuring out who it was that was following me."

Yamazaki studies her curiously for a moment. "If you knew that I was following you, then you're probably smart enough to guess why I am following you. So why would you tell me that you know?"

"Because you heard something that you had no right to listen to." Blaise paused for a moment to gather her composure. "Look, I can't say that in your position, I wouldn't have done the same thing."

Blaise finally looked Yamazaki in the eye as she said, "But that doesn't mean that you couldn't have backed off when you realized what Sano and I were talking about." Blaise took a deep breath. "So how are we going to deal with this problem?"

Yamazaki looked startle. "What?"

"I know that you're following me and you know that I know. Of course, we could continue the way that we have been, but that seems kind of pointless since it will only piss me off."

"Then how do you propose that we proceed from here?" Yamazaki asked guardedly.

"Talk to me when we're alone. It will seriously drive me insane if I have you staying at me from the shadows all day. Also, if you see me having a private conversation, back the hell off."

Seeing as Yamazaki was about to protest, Blaise quickly said, "Look, I know that my word isn't worth shit to you people, but why don't you try to look at this from my perspective? If I tried to run alone, I could probably make it out of this compound alive. But Bella is a child. She would die in that attempt and I think that we both know that I would never do that. So there's really no danger of me planning some harebrained escape attempt."

Blaise paused for a moment with her head cocked to the side. Yamazaki thought that she vaguely looked like a cat examining something of interest.

Eventually she quietly said, "To follow with the streak of total honesty that I've had for the past few hours, I'll admit that if you had captured me while I was alone, I would probably have already tried to escape. But," she said in a stronger voice, "I wasn't alone when you caught me. So that's a moot point."

The two of them stood staring at each other for a few moments. Blaise was waiting to see if Yamazaki planned to sound the alarm now that she had admitted to knowing she was being followed. She had known it could be dangerous, but she had decided that if she was going to be living here for who knows how long, she should at least try to make it bearable for herself.

Blaise startled slightly when Yamazaki finally broke the silence. "You are a strange person. I can't figure out what it is that you are thinking most of the time, and that does make you a potential threat to us."

Blaise tensed before he continued in a thoughtful tone, "But, you do seem to be a good person. You've protected your family, and and actions that you have taken which have been a problem for us, you have only done in order to ensure your own survival." He paused to gather his thoughts. "You seem to be both brave and strong. But I do have one question for you. Why would someone with foreign blood stay with a group of samurai who desire to drive all foreigners out of Japan?"

"You mean, besides the fact that you'd kill me if I left," Blaise said, amused. When she sighed, all of her amusement vanished. "Honestly, I don't think that you are wrong to take that stance."

Seeing Yamazaki's shocked look, Blaise snorted softly before continuing. "What, just because I'm a gaijin, I can't possibly understand? I know that foreign trade is changing Japan, and not all of it is good. I've always thought that if you aren't wanted, you shouldn't overstay your welcome. That being said, me and my sister have no desire to change this country. All I want to do is live a peaceful life, so when you go out yelling about all things foreign being bad, remember that the two of us aren't a part of it."

Blaise took a deep breath. "So, now that I've answered your question, I think it's only fair if you answer one of mine."

Yamazaki warily admitted, "I suppose."

_Does he think I'm going to ask about those freaks from the other night? I'm not that stupid. If I did probe the matter, this guy probably has orders to kill me for it._

Blaise rolled her eyes before saying, "From what I've seen, you seem to act more like a ninja than a samurai. So, why did you decide to join a samurai organization?"

"Because it has always been my dream to be a samurai, even if I have strayed from that path many times in the past," Yamazaki said softly. "And, if I'm not mistaken, you seem to be the same way, Abe-san."

Blaise laughed. "Well, you might be right about that. I was never the type to have grand dreams like that, but when I was a kid, I did want to help people."

Blaise's amusement quickly faded, leaving an almost unreadable look in her eyes. Yamazaki wondered if it was sadness, or maybe regret in her voice as she said, "And then I grew up."

Seeing that he was about to comfort her, Blaise quickly put on an annoyed face and said, "And I thought I told you that Blaise was fine, Yamazaki-san."

Yamazaki couldn't help but smile as he said, "Of course, Blaise-san."

Blaise managed to get Yamazaki to finally show her to the kitchen to get the tea, knowing that by now, Heisuke would probably be complaining back in the meeting room. She didn't show her hurry though, happily chatting with her new companion on the journey.

Yamazaki found himself enjoying the company, though he did wonder about the influences and thoughts of the mercurial man that he saw before him. He left her at the meeting room, saying, "Susumu is also fine," before disappearing.

Blaise chuckled. "Cheeky bastard."

When she finally stepped into the room, Blaise found that her prediction was true when Heisuke, Shinpachi and even Sano began to complain about how long she had been gone.

Blaise didn't exactly help matters by lightly saying, "Sorry, I got caught up in an interesting encounter." Hijikata finally had to tell them to shut up and eat before things quieted down.

Not that the quiet lasted for long. Heisuke and Shinpachi were back to fighting after a few minutes, and not even Hijikata could stop them. Blaise found herself sinking into the comfortable racket as she and Sano helped to teach Bella how to use chopsticks, which ended with far less mess than Blaise had predicted.

When they had finally finished eating, everyone stayed to chat for a few minutes. As the sisters left, Blaise couldn't help but think of how these people already felt like family to her when they all called out for the two to have a good night.

Even Susumu's presence following them didn't feel as oppressive anymore. More like a comforting blanket to guard them from the cold as Blaise walked her sister to their room.

These warm feelings quickly disappeared once Blaise wrestled the door to their room open.

"Family, my ass," Blaise said bitterly.

Blaise's bag was at her feet, open and looking like it and the rest of the room had been ransacked.


	23. Chapter 23

It took Blaise a few moments to get Bella to drop the subject of what had upset her.  However, even as she lay in bed with her sister, Blaise found that she was once again unable to sleep for all of the thoughts going through her head.

Thoughts of how they had betrayed her.

_ All through today, all of those guys acted as though we were a part of their group.  Watching Bella, helping me teach her how to use chopsticks, even acting all friendly to me. _

_ I should have known better.  I did know better. _

_ I just didn’t want to believe that people who appeared so welcoming would be like this. _

_ But I was right.  I really can’t trust them, and I also can’t leave this compound.  Not easily.  Maybe if had held back during that fight with Okita, they wouldn’t have such tight security on me. _

_ Too late to regret that though.  For now, I’m pretty sure that none of them suspect that I’m a girl, otherwise they probably already would have acted on that information. _

_ They won’t have the opportunity to do that though.  I know that they don’t trust me, which means that they could still choose to kill me at any time.  In an era like this, human life is worth so little, and really, who would notice if I was gone?  Sure, Taro and Ai would wonder about us, and they’d probably be hurt that we didn’t come back.  Maybe they’d even cry.  But they really couldn’t do anything. _

_ I need to start guarding myself against these people.  I can’t let them get any closer to me.  I’ll do what I can to avoid them from now on. _

Blaise didn’t expect the pain that hit her chest when she made this decision.  Images from the day that she had spent at Shinsengumi headquarters kept flashing through her mind.

Heisuke barging in to wake her up.  Sano wiping Bella’s face.  Heisuke and Shinpachi offering to play with Bella.  Saito’s awkward gratitude.  Sannan teaching Bella how to write.  Eating with all of the captains.  Even Susumu’s gentle smile as they had talked earlier.

Blaise tried to force these images from her mind and ignore the pain in her chest, but, in the end, it was many hours before she was finally able to drift into a fitful sleep.

 

Blaise was grateful when Bella woke up just after dawn, happy to be relieved from the effort of pretending to be asleep.  As they got dressed, Blaise repeatedly reminded herself to keep the members of the Shinsengumi at arms’ length.

Despite this, when the two sisters walked out of their room, Blaise wondered if she should wake Susumu up.  It certainly wasn’t her job, but he could get in trouble if they found out that she had managed to leave her room without him noticing.

Ignoring Bella’s curious look, Blaise knocked on the door of what she guessed to be Susumu’s room, rationalizing to herself that she just didn’t want the captains to decide that she was too dangerous to allow to roam free.

After a moment, Susumu’s sleepy face peeked out from the door.  Ignoring his shocked look, Blaise stated, “Bella and I are going to head to the courtyard now.  Figured that it would be a good idea to take you with us.”

He obviously agreed as he shut his door for a moment to get dressed himself.  The three then walked in amicable silence towards the large sakura tree in the courtyard.  Blaise was grateful that even Bella couldn’t seem to muster up her usual cheer this close to daybreak.

However, once they arrived, Bella was able to gather enough energy to start making flower chains while the two teenagers sat quietly near the trunk of the tree.  Aside from the occasional comment, they both left each alone.  For her part, Blaise was trying to adjust to being awake this early without any coffee to soften the blow and Susumu didn’t seem to be doing much better.

Blaise had the fortune to not be the one doing the guarding for once, and so she had no qualms about dozing lightly against the trunk of the tree.  She was shaken from her rest when Bella launched a sneak attack to put a crown of flowers on Susumu’s head.

Barely able to contain her laughter at the sight of the serious and solemn boy very nearly being buried under flower crowns, Blaise didn’t fight when Bella gave her the same treatment.

When Shinpachi chanced upon the scene, the confused look on his face sent Blaise into a fit of laughter that she couldn’t contain.  Even Susumu seemed to be having trouble keeping a straight face.

Bella certainly didn’t help either of them on that front as she decided that her friend from the day before also deserved some flowers.  However, since she wasn’t able to reach Shinpachi’s head, she decided to simply wrap as many of the gralands as she could around his legs and waist.

By the time she had finished, you could barely see Shinpachi’s hakama through all of the flowers.  Blaise was vaguely surprised that he was able to walk with all of the wreaths wound around his legs.

She discovered that she was wrong at about the same time that all three of them found out that Bella expected them to wear their new accessories to breakfast.  Blaise couldn’t help but laugh at the dismayed expressions on both Susumu’s and Shinpachi’s faces as they began to walk towards the meeting room.

_ I guess that male pride is the same in any era. _

Watching Bella chatting with Shinpachi ahead of her, Blaise thought how peaceful the Shinsengumi headquarters were, especially for a military organization.  The moment that this thought crossed her mind however, all of the serenity that Blaise had gathered disappeared, leaving behind only her doubts and suspicions.

_ Why the hell do I keep relaxing around these guys?  I know it’s dangerous, and even if Bella is opening up to others, I need to make sure that I can fight them if I have to.  I can’t let myself think of them as anything other than my captors, even if they are being oddly polite about it. _

Susumu noticed the sudden change in Blaise’s mood but didn’t have time to press her about it before they arrived at the meeting hall.  Resigned, he silently excused himself to get his own breakfast while the captains were watching Blaise.

 

Breakfast was largely uneventful, though everyone seemed to get a good laugh at how Blaise and Shinpachi were dressed, with the exception of Saito and Hijikata.  Saito may have been amused, but with his expressionless face made it hard to tell.  Hijikata was too shocked by the fact that two of the strongest warriors he had ever commanded were covered in flowers to be amused.

After a good deal of sissy jokes, the meal ended and Blaise brought Bella up to Sannan and said, “Sannan-san, I appreciate you offering to teach Bella how to read and write while I’m practicing with the division.”

Sannan smiled at the rare display of manners in the Shinsengumi headquarters.  “It’s no problem.  I am always glad to have a student as eager to learn as Bella-chan is.  But, did no one tell you that you don’t have practice today?” he asked curiously.

As Blaise blinked in surprise, she was informed that the commanders had decided to allow their men to have a day off from practice, though she would still be expected to go on patrol later.

At she suddenly had so much freetime, Blaise thought about how she might be able to practice on her own.  She hadn’t lied to Heisuke yesterday when she had told him that she usually practiced everyday.  He life as a bodyguard had taught her to always keep her skills sharp, and old habits died hard.

As Blaise considered her options, she recalled her promise from the day before and decided that, regardless of whether she trusted the Shinsengumi, she would like to find out how her skills measured up.  With this in mind, she turned to Saito and asked, “I don’t suppose that you have the time to hold up our deal from yesterday?”

Noticing that everyone was looking at her curiously, Blaise explained, “Saito-san agreed to spar with me yesterday.”

Heisuke looked as though he wanted to warn the other man not to bother, assuming that Blaise hadn’t yet noticed Saito’s skill with a blade.  Before he had the chance, Saito asked Hijikata if he would be willing to act as a referee for the two of them.

The other captains were shocked that the time for Blaise to spar with Saito had come so quickly.  This was an interesting combination.  Blaise was able to take down Okita, but Saito was a different case.  Being left-handed means being virtually unbeatable to most traditional fighters.  There were no techniques to counter Saito’s left handed style.  Not only that but Saito had another advantage up his sleeve. Saito’s technique was second to none and Blaise is still somewhat a newcomer.

The captains knew that Blaise shouldn’t be underestimated after recalling how she defeated Okita.  Though from a different angle, many would perceive that the first division captain did not take her seriously and so did not even try.  However, they knew Souji well enough to understand that he could kill even without putting in a lot of effort.  Recounting the spar between him and Blaise, they knew Blaise had far exceeded their expectations.

Hijikata stood on the side in the middle. Normally, the vice commander would not serve as the ref in these matches, but this one was an exception since it would be between a newcomer who defeated Souji and Saito whose left-handed skills rivals Souji’s.

Souji grabbed two swords.  He nonchalantly threw one towards at Saito which the left-handed swordsman easily caught whereas he threw the other sword a little more roughly at Blaise.  Blaise caught it with her right hand and placed her left hand above it on the sword and assumed a fighting stance.

She cast her eyes sideways and glanced at Okita.  The first division captain pretended to be bored and returned her look with a smirk.  He was right.  No matter how skilled a swordsman they viewed her to be she was still inferior since her current status was one of a prisoner and equal treatment was out the question.

Every one of the captains were present for the spar. Even Yamazaki joined them to witness the fray. Bella was by Heisuke’s side giving Saito and Blaise her full attention. Blaise gave her sister a smile and turned back to her opponent. 

After seeing her place her hands on the sword, the captains were shocked.  They had seen her use right handed techniques, but never did they expect that she would use her left hand, even in a spar against the only left-handed member of the Shinsengumi.  Hijikata closed his eyes for a brief second.  This boy was certainly full of surprises.  He opened his eyes and brought his hand up to quickly bring it back down.

“Begin!”

The two squared each other off, waiting for the other person to make a move.  Blaise studied Saito for a moment.  Why wasn’t he moving?  She noticed that he was not even reaching for his sword.

At that instant Blaise knew he must have some sort of technique so powerful that he was probably the only one that uses it here at the Shinsengumi headquarters.  Even without having actually had any experience with the technique, she can tell with just a glance that if she was not careful she would lose.

The two looked each other straight in the eye.  Their focus was solely on each other. Everything else was unimportant.  A slight breeze blew in their direction.  Both remained unfazed, not even blinking an eye.  The only movement was the sway of their long hair.  The breeze blew cherry blossom petals in their direction surrounding both with petals as if their aura was a storm. 

_ He has some sort of technique up his sleeve alright.  Since he’s not attacking, the chances that he’s waiting for me to attack him are high.  It looks like I won’t be able to bait him into attacking me first. _

Blaise thought for a few moments while the breeze was still blowing.  She closed her eyes to consider in her surroundings.

_ Looks like there’s no other choice.  _

Opening them, she charged at him quickly.  She raised her sword to bring it down on him, but he moved out of the way at the last second.  She was shocked that he was able to avoid her blow, but she quickly turned around and blocked his attack before it landed on her.  She could feel the power behind his attack.  He tried to push her back but she stood her ground.

Blaise knew that despite being Saito’s equal, the chances of pushing him back were slim, so she would have to try a different approach.  Back when she was trained she not only learned the Japanese martial arts but the Chinese arts as well.  It seemed now would be the right time to put her skills to the test.

Glancing at the intersection of the two swords she then added a little more pressure and quickly pressed herself closer to the sword and maneuvered her sword right off of Saito’s quickly making a 180 degree turn.  Saito narrowed his eyes and charged towards her.  This time Blaise back flipped out of the way.  She landed only to be met with a sword aimed straight towards her.  She blocked and countered it, stumbling back a few steps.

Now the real battle started.  The swords clashed with each other.  The sound of wood hitting and scraping wood filled the air.

The captains were watching the match with amazement.  It felt like they were witnessing two storms clashing with one another.  The sound of loud clashes continued to ring in the air. 

Blaise aimed her sword towards Saito again, but he quickly disappeared right before her eyes.  Shocked, her eyes widened.  Sensing him behind her, she quickly whirled around. 

Saito raised his sword and quickly brought it down.  Blaise bent her knees, her left leg in front and her right knee only about six inches off the ground, and placed her right hand on the sword as well.

She was in trouble now.  Saito added more force to her sword as she attempted to push back.  Even without any set of rules, Saito would be one step closer to victory if Blaise’s knee were to touch the ground.

Bella watched her older sister.  Though it was only a practice match, she was afraid for her older sister.  Everyone was watching the match intently.  Bella clenched the hem of her kimono, watching her sister anxiously.  There were times Blaise struggled in fights but Bella had never seen her come so close to losing before.

After a moment, her fingers relaxed on her kimono.  Bella believed in her sister.  Her sister could win.  She just needed to tell her that.

“Onii-chan!” All the captains turned to Bella.  Neither combatant looked at Bella, but she knew by the tensing of her big sister’s muscles that she was listening.  “You can do it Onii-chan! You can beat him!” Bella yelled at Blaise with her fists clenched.

That’s right.  Whenever Blaise was in a tough position in a fight, her younger sister would always be her reason for fighting.  Each time, she was able to pull through with her memories of her sister.

Closing her eyes for a brief second, Blaise’s eyes flashed open and she pushed herself up with renewed strength, sending Saito back a few steps.

The captains were amazed at Bella’s devotion to her sister and her sudden outburst.  They knew she was quiet so they never expected her to actually yell to her sister to keep on going.  In fact, she was even jumping up and down happily at her sister’s recovery.

The combatants struck each other’s sword.  The loud, resonant sounds of the swords clashing rang through the air again.  Blaise landed a few hits on Saito’s sword, moving forward and pushing him back. 

Saito countered them with his own strikes and launched a few blows on Blaise’s sword, moving forward and pushing her back before he paused.  Blaise brought her sword a little towards her left and waited.

Saito aimed a fury of precise blows towards Blaise.  Blaise blocked most of them and dodged the rest.  She returned his attacks with a fury of her own.  He blocked them and dodged a few of them just like she did. 

There can only be one winner.  Both of them could tell that their opponent had no intention of backing down.

They turned to face the other and brought their swords against each other.  Their faces were only mere inches away from each other.  They glared at each other and gritted their teeth.  They spun around, their hands gripping their swords even tighter.  The added pressure on the swords made them shake.  It was just like the forces of nature clashing together.

Saito took the initiative to speak.  “I’ve never encountered another person who is able to fight with their left hand.  You are stronger than I thought.”

The two spun around.  “Yeah, the same goes for me.” 

The two looked at each other straight in the eye as Saito said, “It seems that your skills are on par with mine.  Maybe even better.”

Blaise smirked and spun around.  “You’re just as good, but maybe we excel in different areas.” 

She lunged at him.  Her attack must’ve been effective because he stumbled back from it.  He lunged back at her.

The two continued their assaults with a fury of strikes and blows to the other with neither side landing a hit.  The two were both fatigued from their spar.  Both knew that they had to bring this battle to an end.

From the sidelines, the other captains were amazed.  Never did they expect a battle between their left-handed swordsman and a newcomer to carry on for so long.  All the while Bella had watched the match anxiously.  Seeing her sister fight reminds her of all the times her sister would go to incredible lengths for her.  Whether if her sister lost or won, Bella could tell that Blaise would still spar with him again.

“What do you say?” Saito asked.  He held his sword in front.  “Shall we bring this to an end?”

Blaise nodded.  “You’re right.  We’re both getting tired.  I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer.”

The captains held their breath and gave the two combatants their full attention.  Blaise and Saito measured each other waiting for the perfect timing.  A soft breeze picked up but quickly died down.  Now was the time.

The two charged at each other with their swords raised.  The captains were shocked.  Saito’s eyes widened.  He was slightly crouched over.

Blaise was on the opposite side of the field.  Her back facing his.  Her hair covered her eyes, possibly to ensure that her emotions were masked.

Blaise was crouching over as well.  Her left knee bent in front of  her, her right knee placed back only a few inches off the ground.  With the sword brought at her left in a finished stance after the final strike, her hands were still tightly gripping the sword to the point her knuckles turned white. 

Saito’s sword lay a few feet behind her.

Saito was still shocked, but he got up and smiled slightly.  It wasn’t often that he was able to go all out in a sparring match.

Blaise picked up Saito’s sword and handed it to him.

Saito bowed to her and and said, “Thanks you for the match.  I’m honored to have been able to fight against another warrior who uses their left hand.  I hope that we will be able to fight again soon.”

Blaise returned the bow and replied, “I would enjoy that.  You nearly won this time.  I enjoyed the challenge.”

They both smiled at each other, and could tell that the other has enjoyed the match through the newfound harmony that had taken hold of them after their match.

The moment was shattered as Bella shouted “Onii-chan!” and ran towards Blaise.

Blaise kneeled down and allowed Bella to wrap her small arms around her.  She held her younger sister close.

She reminisced on past fights. Whenever Blaise had been in a tough position, mainly one that involved fighting for her life, memories of Bella would always remind her of what she was fighting, and she would push on because of this.

This fight was different. It was merely a sparring match, but her sister had reminded her to keep going on. She let go and stroked Bella’s cheek. She hoped that even in this time period she would still be able protect Bella, no matter what the consequences to herself would be.


	24. Chapter 24

After the sparring match, Sannan offered to start teaching Bella.  Blaise tried to protest, but he just waved her off, saying, “Everyone needs some time to themselves when they can relax.”

Blaise eventually gave in and left Bella with him.  Since some other guys had already taken the dojo, Blaise decided to go back to the sakura tree that she and Susumu had sat under earlier to practice.

When Susumu noticed her taking out her sword, he appeared from the shadows and said, “I hope that you don’t plan to spar with me.”

Blaise couldn’t hold back her snort.  “Are you kidding?  After that match with Saito, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle another match for a few hours.”

Susumu looked at her curiously.  “Then why are you taking out your sword?”

Blaise began to run through some basic sword exercises as she said, “Because when I was a bodyguard, I learned the hard way that you should always be prepared, even when things seem peaceful.  Besides, this is my normal workout routine, even before I joined the Shinsengumi.”

Susumu accepted her reasons and then simply watched her silently.  Unfortunately, this left Blaise alone with her thoughts.

Blaise had been in turmoil since she had ended her match with Saito.  She knew that she couldn’t allow herself to become any closer to the Shinsengumi.  She knew that it was dangerous.  But, at the same time, she felt a strange kinship with them.

Not only that, but she had already begun to like them.  Nobody in this era had shown this much kindness to her and her sister except for the Abes.

And her match with Saito had been different than any other sparring session she had ever had.  In the modern era, she had always had to fight against boys who held or tried to say that they had gone easy on her because she was a girl.  And even in this era, people had looked down on her because she was a foreigner.

But these men hadn’t done any of that.  They didn’t even immediately attack her for being left handed or being a foreigner, even if they believed it was only half.  They had respected her.  Saito hadn’t held back but had given her everything that he had.

It was an admirable quality to be able to accept what they aren’t used to.  And one that Blaise had never been able to experience so whole heartedly.

None of these things made it easy for Blaise to hold herself apart from the Shinsengumi, especially when she had already learned how fun they could be when she didn’t have to.

Blaise was driven from her thoughts when she noticed someone walking up behind her.  On instinct, she immediately lunged to put her sword against his throat.

“Woah, it’s just me!” Heisuke shouted when he found himself almost getting beheaded by his friend’s sword.

Blaise blinked at him a moment before sheathing her sword and saying, “Sorry about that.  You surprised me.”

“Yeah, I noticed.  You always do that when you’re surprised?”

Blaise considered it for a moment as she waved an arm at Yamazaki to assure him that she had no plans to kill anyone.  He had begun to stand up when he’d noticed her sword against Heisuke’s throat.  Eventually she said, “Actually, yes.  In my previous line of work, it wasn’t usually a good thing when someone came sneaking up behind you.  Better to accidentally piss someone off than to die because you waited for them to announce their intentions.”

Neither Yamazaki nor Heisuke knew what to say to that, though they both took a mental note to never walk up behind Blaise again.  After he recovered for a minute, “Uh, I just thought that you’d want to know that you’re supposed to be going on patrol in like five minutes.  Saito’s a stickler for punctuality.”

“Shit,” Blaise swore.  “And I still have to get Bella from Sannan.”

Heisuke immediately volunteered to get her himself.  At Blaise’s hesitancy, he added, “Well, it’s not like you can take her on patrol with you, right?”

Blaise eventually complied and then took off at a dead run to get ready for patrol, with Yamazaki hot on her heels.


	25. Chapter 25

Blaise once again walked by Saito as they patrolled Kyoto.  Neither of them were bothered by the silence between them.  Blaise had already known that Saito was a quiet man and as a result he did not think much of silences.  Blaise actually would have been very happy with the quiet companionship after spending the morning with Bella, but she still couldn’t decide what to do about the Shinsengumi or how she should treat them.

As they walked, Saito began to eye her thoughtfully.  He may not be the best at communicating with other people, but he was observant enough to note the small frown on Blaise’s face and the stress in her eyes.

He briefly considered asking her about it, but he assumed that someone as private as Blaise seemed to be would chafe under such an inquiry.  It bothered him more than it usually would to not be able to read the young man’s thoughts, but he, with difficulty, resigned himself to possible never knowing what he was thinking.

Just as he had resigned himself to the silence, Blaise asked, “Hey, what’s up with the people in this town?”

“What?” Saito asked, startled.

“I noticed it yesterday, that the people in this town seemed to be giving us a wide berth.  At first, I assumed it was because they could hear my accent when I was talking to you and wanted to avoid the foreigner.  But they’re still avoiding us today, and I doubt that they would be able to recognize me after only seeing me one time.  So, what gives?”

Saito worried about how Blaise might react to the information.  Oddly enough, while he didn’t entirely trust Blaise, he did respect him enough that he would rather not lie to him unless it was necessary.  Besides, he seemed like a steady enough man, so Saito didn’t expect him to panic when he found out.

“The Shinsengumi was originally called the Roshigumi.”  Seeing that his words meant nothing to Blaise, he continued to say, “We were a unit made up of ronin from Edo.  Many of us are not of samurai birth.”

Blaise looked at him suspiciously and said, “That doesn’t sound like enough for them to be so scared of all of you.”

“No, it isn’t,” he admitted.  “When our group was first formed, there was a man among our ranks who had a bad reputation,” he slowly explained.

“Huh, so even here, I’m gonna get a bad rap,” Blaise said thoughtfully before shrugging.  “Well, I guess I just can’t go anywhere without getting blacklisted by my neighbors.”

_ Or without running into people who I can’t trust. _

 

As was quickly becoming their habit, the rest of the patrol passed quietly with little conversation, and Blaise quickly went in search of sister at the end of it, despite her exhaustion from barely having slept the night before.

Susumu seemed to take pity on her though and quickly began to play with Bella while Blaise rested against a tree trunk, still uncertain about what she was doing here.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, it's been a while. But my last exam is this week, so after this, my updating should be happening a lot faster.
> 
> Also, as a warning, there is a small mention of torture in this chapter, so if you don't want to read it, it is the first large italicized portion of the work.

Blaise closed her eyes as she leaned against the tree and tried to figure out her conflicting feelings.  All of her instincts told her that she was safe here, that she finally didn’t have to watch her back every minute of the day.  But then her mind would butt in and remind her of all the times that she’s been betrayed by someone or betrayed someone herself.

After a few moments, Blaise found herself dozing off.  She tried to keep her eyes open, but with her lack of sleep these last few nights, she eventually gave in to sleeps seductive pull after she saw that Bella was still with Susumu.

Her relief at finally sleeping was short lived as she was immediately pulled into a familiar nightmare.

_ Her client stood in front of the man who had just attacked him.  The man had had a gun, but Blaise had managed to easily take it from him and throw him on the ground.  She had expected that to be the end of it. _

_ But then her client called her forward.  “Get him to talk.” _

_ “Excuse me, sir?” Blaise asked in confusion.  “He doesn’t seem like he’ll talk to me either.” _

_ Her client’s face contorted in anger.  “And here I thought that the agency had given me someone smart, but I suppose not.  Beat him until he talks, girl,” he barked out. _

_ Blaise’s body began to shake.  She tried to refuse, but then- _

“Blaise-san!”

“Onii-chan!”

Blaise jolted upright and nearly headbutted Susumu.  Looking around, she realised that both he and Bella were crouching over her with concerned expressions.

“What are you two doing?”

Hearing her voice, they both seemed to calm down slightly.  Susumu told her, “You seemed to be having a nightmare while sleeping under this tree.”

Bella nodded and said, “You were sweating a lot and making noises.”

As they spoke, Blaise began to remember her dream and felt sick.  Quickly, she leaned to the side and began to empty what little was in her stomach.

After a moment, she managed to gasp out, “Get Bella out of here.”

“Okay,” she heard Heisuke’s voice reply.   _ When did he get here? _

When she finally finished, Blaise began to pull herself up and away from the puddle of vomit only to feel Susumu’s arm wrap around her waist and help her into a sitting position, leaning against the tree.

Uncertain about what she should say, Blaise could only stare at him until Susumu handed her a handkerchief.  Looking awkward, he murmured, “You have a little-”

Blaise quickly snatched the cloth and wiped her face.  When she finished, she took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry about that.  Heisuke probably came here to get us for dinner.  You should go eat.  I won’t try to escape.”

Ignoring her, Susumu took a seat against the tree as well, on the side opposite of where Blaise had vomited.  “Blaise-san, I know that you don’t quite trust us, and I am aware that we haven’t given you very much reason to.  So, I do understand that I don’t have much credibility when I say this, but you can talk to me.”

Despite herself, Blaise felt touched by his concern.  But how could she tell him about her dream.

That dream.  Blaise shuddered as she thought about it, but her stomach was mercifully empty.

That had been one of Blaise’s first jobs, and the first time that she had ever tortured a man for money.  But not the last time, she forced herself to remember.

Over the years, Blaise had become apathetic towards the pleas of the people she was ordered to torture or kill, focusing only on doing what she had to.  But the first time always haunted her, maybe because it had been so unexpected or because she hadn’t been prepared for his pleas as she split open his flesh.

Blaise couldn’t tell anyone about it, especially not a group of men she still wasn’t sure if she could trust.

Finally, Blaise forced herself to say, “I’m fine, Susumu.  It was just a bad memory.”

Susumu continued to stare at Blaise, clearly unconvinced.  Seeing that she wouldn’t be able to talk him out of fussing over her, Blaise began to stand up, forcing Susumu to do the same.

Unfortunately, Blaise quickly found out that she wasn’t in the best shape to be walking around as she had to cling to the trunk of the tree in order to stay up.  Seeing Susumu approaching to offer her an arm, she forced her legs to function and said, “I should go find Bella.  Otherwise, who knows what those guys will end up teaching her.  If Shinpachi ends up passing on his eating habits to her, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to reverse the damage.”

Ignoring her attempt to weasel out of the conversation, Susumu said, “Blaise-san, very few members of the Shinsengumi are innocent.  I won’t judge you for your past.”

Forcing herself to ignore the hope that sprang up in her chest at the thought of finally being able to tell someone her secrets without facing any scorn, Blaise smiled and said, “Then it’s a good thing that there is nothing for you to judge.”

Both knowing that they had come to a stalemate, for now, the two began to walk towards the dining area, where, true to Blaise’s prediction, they heard all of the captains settling down to eat.  Before Blaise opened the door, Susumu leaned down to her height and whispered, “Whatever secrets you are hiding, they are obviously poisonous.  If you don’t face them, and soon, you won’t be able to survive in our unit,” before disappearing, presumably to eat his own meal.

Feeling rattled, Blaise leaned against the pillar next to the door for a moment, trying to calm her heart.  Blaise had never really gotten over what she had done for the last few years, but she had avoided it, to the point that she rarely thought about it anymore.  And now, here was someone telling her that that wasn’t enough.  That she had to do more than just ignore it, but to actually accept it.

_ And how the hell do I do that? _ _ Maybe I should go to confession and tell the priest all my sins. _  Blaise snorted at the thought.

_ Even if there were such a thing here, what would he say anyway?  “Don’t worry, my child, everyone carries some darkness in their soul, but the Lord will forgive you if you follow his teachings faithfully from now on.” _

_ Yeah, right.  Or actually, that would probably be exactly what he would say, while backing away from me in terror, hoping that I wouldn’t kill him too. _

Shaking her head, Blaise forced herself to focus.   _ What the hell is this all of a sudden?  I already know that I’m a monster.  I made my peace with it years ago.  So why on earth is just a few days spent with these people making me into a fool?  Snap out of it, Blaise.  You chose this path, and you have to stick to it, now more than ever, if you want Bella to survive. _

Holding that last thought in her mind, Blaise was able to suppress all of the uneasy feelings in her heart and finally entered the dining room.

As soon as she opened the door, she was immediately assaulted by an overeager Bella and several voices asking if she was alright.  Saying that she was alright while carefully prying Bella off of her, Blaise finally got to her seat.  As she began to try eating, she was cut off by Bella.

“You’re lying, Onii-chan.”  Too shocked by that statement to even try to form a retort, Blaise could only listen as she continued on.  “Your eyes are all red like you were crying and you got sick too.  Stop lying, Onii-chan.”

Before she could come up with an excuse, Heisuke piped up, “Yeah, you looked pretty bad back there, Blaise.  Kinda freaked us both out.”

_ That’s right, he was there too, _ Blaise thought in irritation.  “It’s fine.  I probably just got sick because I’m not used to the routine here.  Give me a couple days and I’ll be perfect.  Now can we start eating already, please?”

The captains all glanced at each other, as though trying to figure out which of them should try to get the young boy to talk.  As Kondou began to say something, Sano cut him off, saying, “If the boy really refuses to talk, then forcing him will only make things worse.  Besides, I’m hungry.”

Surprisingly enough, Hijikata actually agreed, murmuring, “We have another way to find out what happened anyway.”

As the captains all sighed in resignation, the meal finally began, though no one could breach the dark aura surrounding Blaise, not even her sister.

 

As the Abe siblings went to bathe with Shimada standing guard for them, the captains stayed in the dining room, with Yamazaki joining them.

Once they were all settled, Hijikata asked him, “What on earth happened this afternoon, Yamazaki-kun?”

Yamazaki bowed his head slightly and said, “I am not entirely certain.  Blaise-san refused to tell me as well.  However, from what I saw, I believe that it was a nightmare that started the whole event.”

Sannan was quick to jump on his choice of words.  “What do you mean by ‘what you saw’?  You were supposed to watch him from the shadows at all times.”

Susumu quickly explained, “That was my assignment, however, it would appear that Blaise-san is quite skilled at observing his surroundings.  Last night, he called to me when he left to get tea during dinner.  Despite only having met me once, he was able to accurately identify me as the one who was following him.  I had no choice but to show myself to him.”

Kondou asked, “But what about this afternoon?  Abe-kun seemed quite troubled by it.”

“As I was saying sir, Blaise-san knew that I was following but agreed to allow it in exchange for my talking to him at times.  This afternoon, I was entertaining his sister as he fell asleep while leaning against the sakura tree in the yard.  After some time passed, I heard him moaning and found him in the throes of a nightmare.

“I was concerned that it might adversely affect the child to see her brother in such a situation, so I asked Toudou-san to take her away.  After that, Blaise-san refused to say anything other than that he had been reliving a bad memory.”

As all of the captains absorbed this new information, they tried to figure out how this might affect their organisation and their secret.  After several minutes of deliberation, Hijikata finally ordered, “Yamazaki-kun, continue to watch Abe.  If he makes any dangerous moves, inform us immediately.  Until then, continue to try to figure out what secrets he is hiding and report back to us.”

“Yes, sir.”


	27. Chapter 27

Over the next few days, all of the captains watched Blaise closely, as though they expected her to break down sobbing at any moment. But Blaise refused to tell them what had happened the other day, simply brushing off their concerns by saying it was just a dream or avoiding the subject altogether.

After a while, they all gave up trying to get her to talk about it, figuring that no matter what Hijikata wanted, it was impossible to get answers out of someone who refused to talk about the subject. Well, not without inflicting a great deal of pain, anyway.

But there was something else that Sano was worried about. "Hey, Shinpachi, have you talked to Blaise lately?"

Hearing this question, Shinpachi realised, "No, he hasn't really been talking to anyone, now that I think of it. I haven't seen him with anyone other than Bella lately." Seeing the look on his friend's face, he asked, "What's so wrong with that? The kid's always been kinda private."

"But he wasn't when he got here," Sano insisted. "That first day, when we picked him up, he certainly wasn't happy to see us, but he was open to the idea of staying here. And the next day was the same thing. He was getting friendly with a lot of us. He even called out Yamazaki and tried to make friends with him. But that third day, something was different. What could have happened after he went to bed on the second day to make him so cautious around us?"

"Why are you asking me? It's not like I did anything to him," Shinpachi asked irritably. Sighing, he admitted, "But I do know what you mean. We didn't walk much, but he seemed like a good guy, almost like he could become one of us. But there's nothing we can do about it now. After all, we did bring him here as a prisoner."

"Maybe we should try anyway," Sano said thoughtfully.

 

When Blaise woke up, she was surprised by how hopeful she felt about the day. Maybe it was because she could see the sun coming through the rice paper door after several days of nothing but rain. Noticing Bella watching her with a sleepy expression, Blaise reminded herself not to get too used to staying in, if only because Bella might wander off when she woke up on her own.

Quickly dressing them both, Blaise was surprised by what she found when she opened the door. Saito was standing outside waiting for them.

"Oh, morning." Blaise said with a hint of surprise in her voice.

Saito returned the greeting. "Good morning to you too."

He turned away from her and said, "Let's go. You don't want to keep the others waiting."

Blaise smiled and walked with the left handed swordsman to the room, while wondering where Susumu had gone. _He's always been with us. Why wouldn't he be here now? There haven't been any fights for him to be injured in, and he isn't the type to ask someone else to take over his job. Could he have been fired or something?_

Blaise heard her thought echoed by Bella. "Hey, where's Susu-nii?"

"I'm not sur-Did you just say Susu-nii?" Blaise cut herself off.

"Yep, cause he's Susumu, but that takes too long to say," Bella told her cheerfully.

After staring at her sister for a moment, Blaise shook her head in amusement at her sister's still startling decision to interact with other people and turned to Saito. "Well, where _is_ Susumu, Saito-san?"

"I believe that he is still speaking with Vice Commander Hijikata. They have been speaking since early this morning."

Blaise looked at Saito, considering whether or not it would be worth asking him what they were talking about. After a moment, she concluded that she should be a good little prisoner and not bother, especially since she doubted that he would answer her anyway. He didn't seem like the type to give out others' secrets, especially to someone that he himself didn't trust.

Bella lost interest in the topic and ran towards the meeting room, saying that she wanted to play with Heisuke-nii. Blaise simply sighed fondly before indicating that they should try to keep up with the young girl. She never knew what kind of trouble her sister would get into if she was left on her own.

Blaise was surprised when, as they hurried to catch up to the child, Saito said softly, "You always seem to be chasing after your younger sister." Blaise simply arched her brow, as though waiting for him to get to his point. "I was simply thinking that it is an admirable quality, to raise her, despite the limitations that it has put on your lifestyle."

Blaise said shortly, "She's my sister," despite the discomfort that his words brought her.

 

Breakfast that day was odd. Looking around, Blaise couldn't help but notice how Hijikata was focusing on her and, even more oddly, Sano. _It must have to do with that talk he had with Susumu earlier, but what?_

Blaise eventually resigned herself to never really understanding these men who had taken her prisoner but also allowed her to have some measure of freedom. _Who knows, maybe they're all just insane._

Near the end of breakfast, Sano asked her if she would like to go out for tea with him and Shinpachi. Shocked, it took Blaise a moment to stammer out something about not being able to go with them. _Have they forgotten that I'm their prisoner? Maybe they really are crazy. It would certainly explain those guys with the red eyes._

Hijikata interrupted her stuttered speech, saying, "Sannan-san is already going to be tutoring Bella-chan today. You might as well go out, so long as you are accompanied by a captain of the Shinsengumi, of course."

Blaise stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out what ulterior motive he had to allow her to leave. Going on patrol, she could understand. There were so many men with her that, regardless of her own skill it was unlikely that she'd be able to escape, especially with Bella here at headquarters. _Or_ , she realized slowly, _maybe that's why they're letting me out. They must have realized by now that, if nothing else, I would hesitate to leave her behind. They could be enforcing that in my mind, showing me that I might have a long leash, but in the end they still hold the end of it. It's what I would do._

Out loud, Blaise said, "If that's the case, then it would be nice to stretch my legs without having to worry about ronin."

Frowning, Hijikata told her, "It is our duty to always protect the capital against ronin, regardless of whether we are on duty, as members of the Shin-" before realizing that they may be members of the Shinsengumi who were sworn to protect the capital, but the boy in front of him held no such obligation and, as a result of his foreign blood, may very well not want that obligation either. But if both of those things were true, then why had he gone to such lengths to protect Saito from the ronin?

This question had been passing through all of the captains minds ever since the Abes had begun their stay with them, but, with the exception of Saito himself, none of them had found any answers. Looking at the boy now, Hijikata realized that he may never find that answer as he took in the boy's untrusting gaze. He had only meant to serve the emperor and ensure that their secret was kept, but he had taken two children as prisoners. How had things gone so wrong?

Hijikata felt that he was finally beginning to understand the pains that came with being a samurai in service to the Shogun, rather than simply enjoying the accomplishment of his dream to be a samurai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm glad that you've kept reading the story this entire time. I've been getting kind of busy lately, so I have no idea how regularly I'll be able to update this story, but I'll do my best to not leave it alone for too long. Also, I will definitely finish this. I always hate it when a writer suddenly just stops writing, so I'm letting you know that that definitely won't happen here, even if it takes me a long time to update this again.


	28. Chapter 28

After leaving Bella in Sannan’s care, Blaise finally got the chance to look at Kyoto as a city and home to herself and her sister for the time being.  She had seen the city before of course, but then she had been distracted, first by her own exhaustion, by trying to hide from the Shinsengumi, and finally from having to act as a guard of sorts to its inhabitants.

_ Well, I suppose that that  _ **_is_ ** _ what I wanted to do from the start, though it certainly wasn’t in this fashion. _  Blaise couldn’t help herself from chuckling at the realisation.  While quiet, her sudden burst of humor were enough to draw Shinpachi and Sano from their conversation, as Blaise had previously been quiet, leaving all conversation to the two of them while not contributing to it much herself.

At their questioning looks, Blaise explained, “I apologise.  It’s simply that I just remembered that when I first came to Kyoto with my sister, I had intended to rent myself out as a bodyguard to the shopkeepers or upper class of the city.  As I was thinking that, I realised that I technically have been doing just that since I was captured by your group, though I certainly didn’t plan to do it under the threat of death.”

Neither men knew how to respond to such light hearted comments about Blaise’s imprisonment and subsequent treatment, particularly from the boy himself.  After a moment though, Shinpachi chuckled lightly and said, “Yeah, it looks like you were trying to steal our positions when you came to the capital.”

Sano forced himself to give a small smile and lightly added, “Though we would have still had our work cut out for us in protecting the common people of the capital.”

“Yeah, for all they appreciate us,” Shinpachi said half jokingly, half bitterly.

Blaise laughed slightly at this before her face became thoughtful.  After a moment, neither men could contain their curiosity and asked what she was thinking.  “Hm, oh I was just wondering what it must be like to do that.”

“Do what?” Shinpachi finally asked.

“To protect people because you want to protect them, rather than in order to survive.”  After realising that both of the men were staring at her due to her odd comment, she tried to wave her question off, “Oh, it’s nothing, just an absent thought.”

As the three of them had already reached the tea house that they had planned to go to, the men had to halt their interrogation for the moment as they sat down and placed their orders.  Surprisingly enough, it was Blaise who broke the silence.  “I’m surprised that when you said that you wanted to go for tea, you actually meant that you wanted tea, rather than taking me to the red light district.”

Both of the men looked shocked, before breaking into laughter.  After a moment, Sano said, “Well, it is a bit early for that, even for us.”

“Yeah and if we left Heisuke behind, the little pipsqueak would never let us forget it,” Shinpachi broke in.

Sano continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted.  “And, in all honesty, Hijikata-san didn’t want us to take you there.  He thought that it was too . . .” he trailed off, unable to figure out how he should phrase it.

Thankfully for him, Blaise filled in the blank for him.  “He figured that I’d use your drunken state and the general busyness to slip away and tell your secret to anyone who would listen,” she said bluntly.

When neither man responded, once more shocked by Blaise’s almost flippant discussion of his own imprisonment, she added thoughtfully, “It’s kind of ironic in a way though.”

“How so?” Sano finally managed to get out.

“That this would be happening to me.  Usually it’s the other way around,” Blaise stated calmly.  “Normally I was the one protecting someone else’s secrets, and I would have to kill anyone who found out about it.  Yet here I am, having stumbled onto your secret and being imprisoned by you.  It’s just an odd twist to me,” Blaise shrugged.

Sano couldn’t speak for a moment, knowing that he needed to say something, but unable to figure out the words to say it.  Shockingly enough, it was Shinpachi who was finally able to put his thoughts into words.  “You know, you sound a lot like the guys who have joined the Shinsengumi.”

At the surprise on Blaise’s face, Sano explained, “It’s true.  Out unit is made up of ronin, many of whom have committed crimes in the past.  So a lot of times, the new recruits will be surprised at their duties, and about how it feels to be on the other side of the law.”  After a moment, Sano continued, realising that, while it wasn’t something any of them enjoyed admitting to, Blaise might need to hear about their past in order to confront his, “Several of us captains led very dark lives before we finally ended up at Kondou-san’s dojo.  It was thanks to him that all of us were able to turn our lives around for the better, and we have continued to spread that ability to all of our recruits who will allow us to.  We could do the same for you,” Sano finished quietly.

For a moment, Blaise had to fight down the lump that had appeared in her throat at finally hearing the words of someone who genuinely wanted to help her, not to mention wanted her to stick around.  Hearing those words was both relieving to Blaise, but it also threw her mind into chaos.  Thankfully, she was spared from having to reply by a waitress bringing them their order of green tea and dango.

_ Is that why it’s so comfortable to be around them?  Because they don’t mind what I’ve done in the past, because they care about what I’ll do in the future. _

As Blaise recognised the hope that was beginning to blossom in her chest, she violently shook the thoughts from her head.   _ Yeah, and I’ll bet that they’ll help me get away from my past too.  I’ve heard all of this stuff before, and as soon as anyone found out what I had done, or how I didn’t know any other way to take care of Bella, they all ran as fast as they could.  I can’t let their attempts at sympathy, at trying to get answers out of me, affect me. _

Still, as the conversation shifted to lighter topics, Blaise couldn’t help thinking that the look in Sano’s eyes as he was telling her about the Shinsengumi was too clear, too  _ honest _ for it all to have been a lie.  And that thought refused to leave her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an updating schedule figured out for the next month or so until school starts. The full length one is on my Fanfiction profile, but the bare bones of it is that I'll be updating this story every Friday, and I'll try to make them fairly long chapters. Note the word "try."


	29. Chapter 29

After they had finished their tea, the trio decided to walk around the town for a little while. Blaise wasn't certain about what had possessed them to take their prisoner out on the town like this, but she was grateful, even if she thought they were fools. Taking her to a restaurant was one thing. There were only so many ways she could escape from a restaurant, but here in town, it would be easy for her to take off any way she wanted and get lost in the crowd. Briefly, she revisited her thought about them taking her out here to test how easily they could control her by keeping Bella with them, but eventually decided that she didn't really care. She had been cooped up in their headquarters for too long, only allowed out to go on patrol, that it felt good to stretch her legs without having to watch her back because of that damned blue haori marking her a target.

Of course, that didn't mean that they didn't still attract attention. Even without the gaudy uniform, almost everyone in Kyoto knew the faces of at least the captains of the Shinsengumi, and some of them might even be recognising Blaise from when they had seen her with Saito. But at least Blaise could pretend that she still had some anonymity, even as she realised that when she finally was able to leave the Shinsengumi, and she still had every intention of doing so at the first opportunity she saw, she would probably have to dress as a woman for at least the first few miles out of the city to avoid drawing attention to herself. It would seem that staying with the Shinsengumi had put an even bigger target on her back than having a foreign accent had.

Sighing, Blaise tuned back into the conversation that was taking place between her companions, only to realise that she didn't really care if Sano was stealing women from Shinpachi or not. But as she listened, she couldn't help but chuckle inwardly, recalling that movie about the girl who took her brother's place on a soccer team and overdid the whole guy act. She definitely wouldn't have had that issue with these two.

Just as she was about to break in, hoping that giving Shinpachi some advice would cause her a little pain for the long term gain of getting him to stop griping about Sano's luck with women, she heard a man shouting. As she stopped walking to try to locate the voice, Sano and Shinpachi also seemed to hear it.

Blaise would have written it off as not being her business and continued on her way if not for the fact that as she walked, she could just barely hear a sound that she knew very well, even with the crowd blocking her view. The sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath, albeit very clumsily to have been heard from this distance.

Realising that her escorts would feel obligated to break up the fight, and that she herself didn't really want any more deaths on her conscience, Blaise began to move through the crowd only to be very surprised by what she saw.

In the center of the crowd was a scruffy looking man with his sword drawn, something which Blaise had expected from the start considering that most of the larger conflicts in this city seemed to involve either ronin trying to steal something or bully someone. What did surprise her was the person who, Blaise assumed, he had tried to steal that something from.

In front of the store there was a young girl, Blaise estimated that she was a year or two younger than herself, wearing a brightly colored kimono and, most shocking of all, she was holding a katana in her hands as though to fight off the ronin. Even as she hurried to get closer to the combatants, Blaise couldn't help but notice that the girl's handle on the sword was horrible and her stance was nonexistent. Did she think it was some sort of toy?

Even as these thoughts crossed her mind, Blaise began to move faster as the ronin luger towards the girl who, to her credit, did attempt to block the blow but only succeeded in getting her sword knocked from her hands. Seeing that the ronin was making no move to step back, Blaise quickly knocked his sword out of his hand and held her blade to his throat.

"Would you care to tell me what is going on over here?" she asked him coldly.

Surprisingly enough, it was the girl who answered. "This man was attempting to steal from my family's store, saying that a samurai shouldn't have to pay at a low class shop like our's."

Immediately, the ronin tried to explain away his actions, saying that it was all a misunderstanding. _Even when they're caught, they still don't have the balls to just own up to what they've done_ , Blaise thought in disgust. She considered simply killing him for a moment, but decided that she didn't need all the trouble of such a public kill which would cause the people to both remember and fear her. If she ever did need work in this town, it wouldn't help her any to have ingrained herself in their memories in such a way.

Leaning down, Blaise told him softly, "I suggest that when I let you up, you run out of this city. If I ever see you again, I won't stop at this, understand?"

Seeing the fear in the man's eyes increase, Blaise knew that he did and removed her sword. Apparently following her words to the letter, the ronin ran as though he was being chased which, considering her threat, he may very well have thought that he was.

Satisfied, Blaise turned to see Shinpachi and Sano talking to the girl. As she walked closer, she heard Sano say, "Look, it turned out alright this time, but next time someone bothers you, call for help instead of trying to take it on yourself."

Blaise was surprised when the girl said angrily, "And I supposed you're saying that because I'm a girl? You think you're so different as men that a woman can't even compare."

Blaise couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her at the girl's words. She was really starting to like this girl.

Obviously mistaking Blaise's noise of approval for one of derision, the girl's eyes narrowed. "Pompous men like yourselves-"

"Just saved your life," Shinpachi cut her off, surprise taking the smile off his face for once.

At this the girl deflated slightly as the truth hit home in her. Sighing, she said, "Yes, you did, and you have my thanks. I am Kaoru Fujita and my family owns the store that is behind me."

At this sign of acceptance, Sano immediately restarted his spiel about how a girl like her should just let herself be protected instead of taking her father's sword. Getting irritated at Sano's continuously misogynistic point of view, Blaise moved closer to the girl. As she got a better view of Kaoru's hands, Blaise realised that the girl's swordsmanship was very sloppy, but not from lack of trying if the callouses she saw on her hands were any indication.

Realising how much she really did want to help this girl who had the balls to take up a sword in a man's world, Blaise did something she knew that she would regret. She stepped well into the girl's personal space and, brushing against her, picked up her sword. She wrapped her hands over where Kaoru's held the sword's sheath. Leaning in, as Blaise moved to sheath the sword, she also whispered in Kaoru's ear. "Meet me at the bridge at eight tomorrow if you want to use this sword."

Stepping away, Blaise was satisfied that anyone who had been looking on would have simply thought that she was flirting with the girl, even Sano and Shinpachi. Deciding that she had heard enough about how men should protect women while the women sat at home cooking for them, Blaise said in a normal tone of voice, "You should really sharpen that blade, otherwise it won't even be able to cut wet paper," before walking away.

When Shinpachi and Sano caught up to her, Sano asked angrily, "What were you thinking, telling her how to take care of that sword? She could be hurt."

At this, Blaise's patience finally snapped and she turned to face him. "And why do you say that? If that girl were a boy, you would have been patting him on the back for standing up to that rogue samurai. But you didn't, and all because she was a girl. Why?"

Looking shocked, Sano said, "Women should have a man to protect them."

"And why do they need protecting? Oh that's right, it's because of men like you, forcing them to be china dolls instead of asking what they want." Having said her piece, Blaise began to walk towards headquarters, angry and already worried about whether or not she'd be able to meet that girl tomorrow. But then she realised that it probably wouldn't be as hard as she thought it would be, considering that they had already allowed her out like this, though she wasn't very happy about being babysat all the time.


	30. Chapter 30

When they finally got back to headquarters, Sano and Shinpachi took off pretty quickly, either to tell Hijikata about what had happened while they were out with Blaise, or just to get away from Blaise in general.  As Blaise watched their backs get smaller, even she had to admit that she had gone a little bit overboard on the hostility during the walk back.  She hadn’t really meant to go that far, but it just pissed her off to hear people telling a girl that she was a fool for fighting, just like when she had been trained herself.

_ Honestly, what did those two expect?  Of course the girl would be beaten, even by a ronin.  It was obvious from the way she held her sword that she had no damn idea what she was doing, apart from what she might have been able to pick up from watching all the samurai and ronin in this city. _

_ But the only thing that loss had to do with her gender was the fact that it kept anyone from taking her seriously as a warrior and from actually teaching her anything.  Even a fully grown man who had been in her position would have lost, but did they say that?  No, they just told her that little girls shouldn’t play with weapons. _

Sighing, Blaise tried to calm her temper, as well as figure out where all of this anger was coming from.  Sure, seeing any girl being treated like that would piss her off a bit, but normally it wasn’t this bad.  And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been expecting their reactions.  Wasn’t that sort of attitude the reason why Blaise had been hiding her real gender from them?

As the thought crossed her mind, Blaise realised that it was for exactly that reason that she was so much angrier about this than usual.   _ If they reacted that way to Kaoru, who was braver than most of the men on that street who were only willing to stand there and watch as she was attacked, then why would they treat me any differently?  If I’m ever discovered, my skill won’t matter to them, only the fact that I’m not a man. _

_ And it’s not just the Shinsengumi who would act that way, everyone in this time period is like that.  Even though the Abes accepted us, I always knew that they didn’t approve of me fighting against men.  So I’m stuck in a time where no one will ever take the real me seriously, and I can’t leave unless I want to risk both mine and Bella’s life trying to get back. _

_ So that’s it then.  I’ll have to be a man for as long as I survive here, I can never wear a woman’s kimono again, even when I manage to get back to Edo, I’ll still have to be a man. _

Slightly saddened by this revelation, Blaise realised that she had known this all along, since the moment that she realised she was stuck in the 1800s, but she hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself since, even though she did prefer men’s clothing, she didn’t like the idea of completely shutting out her femininity, of denying the small part of her that, even though it was small and not very well developed, had loved being a girl, the idea of going on dates and having a family.

Blaise had always known that those things would probably never happen, what with her job and taking care of Bella, but she had always held onto the hope that it could still happen one day, and having that hope ripped away so suddenly hurt.

Pushing away her sadness, Blaise headed to Sannan’s room to get Bella, figuring that she should spend some time with her sister before either Blaise got depressed, or Bella started to feel neglected by her sister’s busy schedule.

* * *

 

After Blaise had retrieved Bella, the two girls had had some much needed time together, playing tag, wrestling, and looking at the clouds.  What neither of them seemed to notice though, was that they were being watched by incredulous eyes.

Kondou, Hijikata and Sannan had wondered who was making so much noise outside of the room they were having their meeting in and had come out to investigate.  Since the three of them were only talking about the expenses of the troops and scheduling, they hadn’t wanted to use the main meeting room, so it wasn’t too surprising to them that someone would be outside the room innocently.

But they certainly hadn’t expected to find the cold, aloof man who they had taken prisoner laughing as he allowed a child to tackle him to the ground and weave flowers in his long hair.  Even after knowing about the boy’s devotion to his sister, they were still surprised to see the gentle light in his eyes as he entertained the child, and the aura of happiness they felt emanating from him as he was treated as a doll to dress up by the girl.

Knowing that most boys his age would find such antics too emasculating to allow them to occur, the three commanders couldn’t help but wonder which side of the boy was his true personality: the gentle nurturer they saw now, or the fierce and heartless warrior who kept everyone at a distance?  Even among their own warriors, none of them had ever seen a man who bore such a duality of character.


	31. Chapter 31

After a few hours, Blaise noticed Bella starting to look tired, and realised that it wasn’t really that surprising.  The two sisters had always been early risers, but ever since they had come to the Shinsengumi, Blaise had found herself waking up earlier than ever, and usually waking Bella up too when she got out of the futon.  And when those early mornings were combined with all the studying that she was doing with Sannan, it wasn’t that surprising that she’d be tuckered out so easily.

Maybe Blaise would try to talk to Sannan to give Bella a break every so often.  After all, in public schools, kids got two days a week off, so why shouldn’t Bella get a day or two off?

Still, Blaise admitted that that was something that she could worry about later.  As she watched Bella start to doze off on the ground, Blaise tried to think of ways that she could talk Hijikata into letting her go out alone tomorrow morning.

_ Like hell he’d let that happen.  I’d have to at least take Susumu with me.  I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad since he doesn’t seem like the type who’d try to stop the lessons. _

_ But if Shinpachi or Sano were to come with me, they definitely wouldn’t let me teach her.  And I’m not too sure how the others would act, either.  Maybe Saito wouldn’t mind if I taught her?  He seems reasonable enough, and surely he’s faced enough prejudice for being left handed that he wouldn’t do the same to her, would he? _

_ Ugh, there’s just too many things I don’t know about them.  I’ll have to come up with some way to convince Hijikata that he only needs to have Susumu watch me. _

_ Speak of the devil. _

As Blaise’s thoughts spun around in circles, she saw the three heads of the Shinsengumi start to walk towards her.   _ Wonder if I should ask him now, while Kondou’s here.  He seems like he might help me convince Hijikata. _

“I hope you don’t mind us joining you, Abe-san,” Kondou said warmly.

“Not at all.  Bella just dozed off, so it’s nice to have the company.”

“That’s odd.  Bella-chan seemed to be very energetic this morning,” Sannan commented, sounding worried.

“Oh, she’s fine.  It’s probably because she had to use her brain with you this morning,” Blaise assured him.

“As I recall, you also had a rather lively morning, Abe-kun.”

“I guess you could call it that.”  Then, realising that this might be the chance she’d get, Blaise said, “Actually, going out to see the city like that made me realise how important your duties are.  Would you mind if I went out more often?”

Just when it looked like Kondou might agree, Hijikata just had to butt in.  “And exactly where would you go while you’re out there?”

_ Damn it. _  “Not entirely sure.  I’d just like the chance to walk around and see the people who are here.”  Deciding that it would be faster to just drop the innocent act and confront him directly, Blaise said bluntly, “Look, I’m not going to run away, I’ll even bring Susumu with me if you want, but it’s not necessary.  I’d never leave Bella behind with you guys, so I couldn’t just up and leave like that.”

“And you expect us to-” Hijikata started, but was cut off by Kondou.

“Now, Toshi, hasn’t Abe-san been perfectly cooperative since he arrived.  Why don’t we just let him go out?  Like he said, Yamazaki-san will be there to keep an eye on him, too.”

Blaise felt slightly amused as she watched Hijikata grumble for a couple more minutes before finally giving in.   _ So I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles, huh?  Could be useful later on. _


	32. Chapter 32

After hashing out the details of tomorrow’s excursion, which basically were that Blaise couldn’t leave the city limits and had to stay in Susumu’s line of sight, the heads of the Shinsengumi retreated back to their meeting.  As she watched them walk away, Blaise once more tried to figure out if she should teach them to be more wary of strangers like herself, or just be glad that Kondou seemed naive enough to let her get away with just about anything she could want to do.

_ Hm, wonder if I should kill Hijikata then.  He  _ is  _ the one who convinced Kondou-san to make me stay here, and if I made it look like an accident, then I might really be able to leave here without a fight. _

_ Then again, there’s also Sannan-san.  He seems about as suspicious as Hijikata, and unfortunately, after the lessons that he’s been giving to Bella, killing him wouldn’t exactly be a good way to show my gratitude. _

_ Besides, so far none of them have done anything overtly threatening, so, as long as things stay about the same way that they are, I have time to figure out a way to get them to let me leave peacefully.  I definitely don’t want to have to start some sort of mass killing spree inside the compound and end up escaping only to have these guys chasing the two of us for the rest of our damn lives. _

Blaise leaned back against the trunk of the tree, figuring that it would be better to just sit beside Bella until she woke up, instead of picking her up and risking taking away the child’s much needed rest.

_ Let’s see.  Kondou-san is technically the leader of the Shinsengumi, but he’s almost as naive as Bella.  He didn’t seem to mind the idea of letting us go without a fuss until the others convinced him.  He’d probably be the easiest to convince to let us go. _

_ But then there’s that damn Hijikata and Sannan-san.  Those two act friendly, but they definitely don’t trust me.  So how do I do that?  It could take years.  It’ll be like trying to get me to trust somebody. _

Blaise’s eyes widened as she realised how true that statement was.   _ Of course, out of all of the Shinsengumi, those two are the most like me.  Instead of trying to get into their heads, I should get into mine.  What would make me trust someone? _

_ Nothing fast.  If it happened too quickly, I’d assume that it was staged.  So I’ll need time. _

_ But Hijikata seems to think of Kondou-san like I think of Bella, so I were somehow able to help Kondou-san out of a desperate situation, he might back off a bit.  And considering how Kondou-san always seems to see the best in people, it won’t be long before he ends up trusting someone he shouldn’t.  If I watch out for it, I should be able to find an opening, _

_ Sannan-san is trickier.  He doesn’t really let any of his motives or feelings show, at least not in front of me.  But he’s also chosen to be the subordinate of a man who, from all that I’ve seen, he could easily outclass as a commander.  Perhaps he is the same as Hijikata?  I suppose I’ll have to wait and see. _

_ Then there Shinpachi, Sano and Heisuke.  The three of them all seem to like me well enough, so I bet that if I could get at least two of the commanders to allow me to leave, they wouldn’t fight it. _

Blaise pushed the small twinge she felt at using the three’s friendship towards her for her own means and began to consider the other three captains she had met.   _ There’s Inoue, too.  I haven’t spent much time with him but, from what I’ve seen, I think that he’ll go along with whatever the commanders say. _

_ So that just leaves Saito-san and Okita.  I don’t think that Saito-san will actively go against my desire to leave unless he views me as a threat, so as long as I don’t do anything overtly suspicious around him, he shouldn’t be a problem.  Especially since he still owes me for saving his life.  And that just leaves that bastard Okita.  I wouldn’t put it past him to try to stop me out of spite.  But I’m pretty sure that the others can and will overrule him so long as I lay low during my stay here. _

Blaise was so absorbed in trying to figure out how to leave the Shinsengumi that she didn’t notice the man walking towards her until he spoke.

“Excuse me, Abe-san.”

Jumping, Blaise recovered in time to say, “Er, hi, Saito-san.  Think you could cough the next time you sneak up on me like that?”

“I wasn’t sneaking up on you.  When I noticed you sitting there, I walked up but you didn’t appear to notice.  I do apologise for startling you, Abe-san.”

Sighing, Blaise admitted, “It’s not your fault, I was the one who wasn’t paying attention.  It’s simply a habit from my bodyguard days to be angry when someone comes near me.”

“Old habits do seem to be the hardest to change,” Saito stated.

Noticing that he didn’t seem inclined to say anything, and that staring up at him was giving Blaise a crick in her neck, she said, “If you’re going to talk to me, you might as well sit down.”  Surprise briefly appeared on Saito’s face, to which Blaise said, slightly bitterly, “C’mon, it’s not like I’m gonna stab you in the middle of the courtyard.”

Saito stared at the boy in front of him for a moment before moving to sit seiza beside her, causing Blaise to laugh softly.  “Is something the matter, Abe-san?”

“It’s Blaise, Saito-san.  My sister and I aren’t used to being called by our family name, so it would be easiest if you called me Blaise.”

“But-” Saito started, only to be cut off by another laugh.

“You never relax, do you, Saito-san?” Blaise observed.  “You’re always sitting so stiffly talking so formally, makes it even harder to read you than if you were always acting like an ass.”

Saito stayed silent for so long that Blaise began to question her sudden voicing of her inner thoughts.  Maybe she had put his guard up by suddenly saying exactly what she’d been thinking.  After a moment though, he finally said, “I was raised much more strictly than many of the members of our unit, particularly due to my handedness.”

Surprised, Blaise said, “Oh yeah, people here think that being left handed is bad, don’t they?”

Saito stared at Blaise as he said, “Yes, but you should know that better than anyone.  It’s obvious that someone tried to correct your handedness when you were a child, Abe-san.”

Blankly, Blaise said, “First off, it’s Blaise.  I’m not used to being called ‘Abe’, and second, what do you mean fix?”

“You eat with your right hand and also practice swordsmanship with it, as most left-handed children are taught.”

Unexpectedly, Blaise burst out laughing.  “So that’s what’s got your feathers all ruffled.  I hate to break it to you, but no one ever actually tried to teach me how to use my right hand.  They never had to.  As a kid, I used my left hand to eat and write and such, but when I did that in public, a lot of people complained.  Some of them even tried to get my parents to make me stop.  My parents didn’t really care, since in my mother’s country, being left-handed isn’t that big of a deal.  But when I was around nine or ten, I think, I had a teacher who was really old-fashioned, used to hit me with a ruler when I used my left hand.  My parents put me into another school, but I realised that I’d get into a lot less trouble if I used my right hand around people I don’t know.”

“So you were taught out of it,” Saito stated.

“Not really.  Even when I first started writing, I used both of my hands, and it was just as legible with both of them.  I just liked using my left better and it became a habit.  I didn’t even realise it was unusual until I had that teacher, and I kept using my left hand when I was at home.  But it became habit to use my right hand around people I didn’t know, especially after I started traveling with Bella.”

“So it never caused you problem prior to your parents’ deaths then, Abe-san?”

“Again, it’s Blaise.  Seriously, if you call me Abe when I’m not talking to you already, I probably wouldn’t even respond,” Blaise said, waiting for a response from Saito.

After a slight hesitation, she got one.  “Yes, Blaise-san.”

“And my mother was a foreigner, remember?  To her, it didn’t matter much what hand I used.  I still prefer my left hand, but it doesn’t make much of a difference to me to use my right.  Anyway, what’s with the whole fixation on my handedness?”

After a few minutes of silence, Blaise accepted that she wouldn’t be getting an answer and changed the subject.  “So what were you doing here anyway, Saito-san?”

“I was going to go through some katas in the courtyard, and I noticed you sitting here.  You looked troubled, Blaise-san,” Saito observed softly.

“Just trying to process everything that’s been going on,” Blaise brushed him off.  “Oh, and your squad starts practice at around ten, right?”

“That’s correct, though we’ve been doing so ever since you came here.”

“I like to take walks in the morning, and Hijikata-san, Kondou-san and Sannan-san agreed to let me.  I want to make sure that I’m not late.”  Even as Blaise came up with the excuse, she began to work up a training plan for her potential student in her mind.  All those years of helping at her father’s dojo had taught her to get these things worked out in advance.

_ So that gives me about an hour and a half to train her if I want to be one time for the work out.  For our first session, I’ll have to see what she knows and how strong she is.  But I should probably teach her how to fight bare-handed.  After all, a girl can’t just walk around with a sword in this era.  She’s so small that aikido would probably be best.  And I don’t think it’s been invented yet, so that could give her an edge in a fight.  But she’d also have to be pretty flexible.  Maybe . . . _

Blaise was taken from her thoughts by a small cough.  “Oh, sorry about that.”

“It is alright, Blaise-san,” Saito assured her before hesitantly asking, “You have been rather out of sorts for some time, haven’t you, Blaise-san?  May I ask if there is a problem?”

_ Yeah, you are. _  “Just a lot of things happening all at once, Saito-san,” Blaise said with a sigh before excusing herself.  As she began to pick up Bella, she said, “Also, I don’t think that Bella and I will be eating dinner tonight.  If the food’s already been made, think you could tell Shinpachi or Heisuke that they can have our portions?”

* * *

 

When morning came, Blaise was surprised to have been woken up by Bella, though after a moment, she realised that it wasn’t really that much of a surprise considering how little she’d been sleeping recently.  Her body needed to rest at some point.

As she thought about the reasons for her lack of sleep, Blaise realised that there was one thing that she hadn’t thought of: what she was going to do with Bella.  Judging by the light coming through the door, Blaise could tell that it was almost time for her to leave, and she doubted that many of the captains were up yet.  For a moment, Blaise considered seeing if Shiro was awake yet, but she still wasn’t sure if she could trust him.

Checking to see that Bella was still asleep, Blaise snuck out as quietly as she could, wincing at the noise the door made yet again.  Surprisingly enough, Bella slept through it, unlike Susum who came outside still dressed in his sleeping kimono.  “Morning, Susumu.  The commanders told you that we’ll be going for a walk today, right?”

“Good morning, and yes, I was informed of your plans.  But are you certain that you wish to go out this early?” Susumu said in a tone that Blaise would have described as whiny if it were anyone else.

Smiling slightly, she said, “This is the best time to go for a walk, we’ll miss all the afternoon shopping crowds.”   _ Though hopefully there’ll be enough shopkeepers opening up to give me some cover. _  “Anyway, why don’t you get dressed while I find someone to watch Bella?  It seems that she’s not quite ready to get up yet.”

With that taken care of, Blaise tried to think of anyone who might be up this early.  She didn’t want to risk being late for her meeting, and she wanted to lose Susumu before she met Kaoru, so it was only about 6:30.

Coming up blank, Blaise noticed that she could smell someone cooking.  Surprised, Blaise walked to the kitchen only to find Inoue making breakfast.  Noticing her, he gave a small smile.  “Good morning, Abe-kun.”

“Ah, morning, Inoue-san.  And I prefer Blaise,” she replied as she was shocked out of her slight stupor at seeing someone else awake.  Then she tilted her head to the side in an almost cat-like fashion to study Inoue.

She hadn’t spent much time with him, but she knew that the commanders trusted him, and he gave off a grandfatherly aura.  As Inoue began to stare at the boy in front of him, wondering why he kept staring, Blaise finally decided that he was probably her best bet at finding a babysitter.  “Hey Inoue-san, would you mind doing me a favor?  Kondou-san said that it was alright for me to take a walk in the morning, but my sister is still sleeping.  Do you think you could tell her where I went when she wakes up and make sure that she stays out of trouble?  If it’s too much of a bother, I can look for someone else.”

“Toshi-san mentioned that you’d be going out more frequently, but I didn’t expect you to go so early.  As it is, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who’s awake right now, and I don’t mind watching Bella-chan, she seems like a sweet child.  But may I ask where you plan ong going exactly?”

“Just around,” Blaise said lightly before going back to get Susumu.

* * *

 

Once in the city, Blaise found that it was easier to lose Susumu than she had expected.  There were several women out getting ingredients for breakfast, not to mention all of the merchants visiting with each other.  Combined, they formed a decent crowd that made it easy for Blaise to move with the crowd away from Susumu.

_ Huh, all’s well so far, but I doubt a trick like this will work for long.  Gotta hand it to him though, Susumu’s better at this than I expected.  Took me almost an hour to lose him, so if I don’t hurry, I could miss that girl. _

_ Hopefully, they won’t put an end to my outings if I just say that I didn’t notice that we were getting separated. _

Putting those thoughts from her mind, Blaise carefully began to move through the city, being careful to look out for Susumu until she made it to the designated meeting spot.  Realising that she was alone, Blaise wondered whether or not the girl would even show up, but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and sat down in the shadows of a patch of trees.


	33. Chapter 33

As her wait was approaching the hour mark, Blaise began thinking of leaving, assuming that the girl had decided not to take her up on her offer of lessons.  Blaise tried to work up some ire towards the girl for making her go to such trouble in order to help her, but found that she really couldn’t.

Because Blaise understood.  When you work so hard at something for so long and then it just seems to fall right into your lap, it was hard to believe that it was actually real.  Especially when it was coming for free.  Blaise herself probably wouldn’t believe it either.

With this mindset, Blaise got ready to leave, slightly regretful that she hadn’t managed to do anything to really help the girl who was brave enough to stand up to everything she’d been taught and everyone she had ever known.  Even Blaise had to admire the kind of strength that that took, especially since she’d had it a lot easier, growing up in the twenty-first century.  It was the entire reason she’d offered to teach her.

Still slightly depressed at both the waste of her time and of the girl’s own strength, Blaise didn’t notice that she had a visitor until she spoke up.

“Um, excuse me.”  Freezing at having been snuck up on, Blaise jerked her head up to see the girl from the day before.  After a brief staring match, the girl said hesitantly, “Um, I’m Fujita Kaoru, you said that you’d give me lessons on swordsmanship.”

“I remember,” Blaise said calmly.

Relieved, the girl started, “Then-”

“You’re late,” Blaise stated, to the girl’s surprise.  “Listen, Kaoru, I get that you probably had a hard time deciding to come here, but I only have a limited amount of time to teach you.  So if you’re going to be late, then I’m going to have even less time.”  Seeing that she was getting through to the girl, Blaise said softly, “Look, I don’t mean to be a hardass, but I need you to understand that I don’t have the time to wait around for you everyday.  So try to be on time from now on, okay, Kaoru?”

Nodding her head, the girl suddenly started blushing.  At Blaise’s questioning look, she said, “You just called me,um-”

“Oh, yeah, I called you ‘Kaoru’, didn’t I?” Blaise said as she made the realisation.  She’d been so annoyed at the girl that she’d forgotten to use Japanese honorifics when talking to her.  Hell, she was lucky that she’d spoken to the girl in Japanese.  Shaking it off, Blaise said, “Yeah, sorry about that.  How about we start over a little bit?  I’m Abe Blaise and like you probably know, I’m currently staying with the Shinsengumi.”

Shyly, Kaoru admitted, “I thought that the men you were with yesterday were members.  So are you as well?”

Hesitating slightly, Blaise hedged, “I’m staying with them for the time being.  Let’s leave it at that.  As for our lessons, I should be able to meet you everyday here at eight, and we’ll work for an hour and a half before I have to get back to headquarters.  You got that, Kaoru?”

“Yes, Abe-san.”

Frowning, Blaise said, “Okay, first lesson.  Never call me ‘Abe’.”  At the girl’s surprised look, Blaise decided to once more give the girl a revised version of the truth.  Just because she admired the girl’s guts didn’t mean that she was going to tell her everything.  Maybe if the girl proved trustworthy, she’d go back and fill in some of the blanks.  “Abe is the name of the family that adopted me and my sister after our parents deaths.  I’m not used to being called by it, so most people just call me Blaise, rather than risk me not realising that they’re talking to me.”

Hesitantly, Kaoru nodded.  “Okay, Blaise-san then.”

Shaking her head at how fussy the Japanese were about how they were called, Blaise took a closer examination of the girl.  Kaoru was once more wearing a bright kimono, an almost luminescent pink today, and was carrying her sword in one hand.  Slightly revising the tentative lesson plan that she’d had in her mind, Blaise said, “Okay, first of all, why are you wearing that?”

“What?” Kaoru said, clearly not understanding.

“That kimono,” Blaise clarified only to receive another blank look.  Sighing, Blaise explained, “You do realise that I’m going to be teaching you to  _ fight _ , right?  Something as brightly covered as that will only get messy, and maybe ruined during the course of our lessons.  Not to mention that it’s hard for you to move in, right?”

“But this is the simplest of my kimono,” Kaoru protested.

Remembering all the trouble that she had had convincing the Abes that she needed to wear a hakama, Blaise realised that this girl probably only had kimono.  “Okay, look.  I know that you wear those when you’re in public, but right now, here, it’s going to be a hindrance if you try to learn how to fight in it.  So tomorrow I’ll bring you a pair of my hakama and you’ll wear that while we practice, got it?”

Slightly amused at how closely the girl resembled a tomato, Blaise decided to try to smooth out her ruffled feathers.  Grasping the girl’s shoulders lightly, she said, “Kaoru, I understand that what I’m saying probably goes against the grain for you.  But then, isn’t the idea of a girl wielding a sword also taboo?  There’s a reason that most samurai wear hakama.  It’s because martial arts require quite a bit of unrestricted movement in order to be effective, something which your kimono don’t provide.”

“But in the city-”

“Yeah, I know.  In the city you’ll have to wear a kimono.  And that should be fine as long as you wear something a little less stiff.  See how this fabric doesn’t move much?  That’s because it was made to look pretty but not be functional.  If you got a simpler kimono, you’d probably be able to move a lot more freely.  But that’s a moot point right now.”

“What?” Kaoru asked, startled.  “But you said that you would teach me how to fight?”

“That’s right, I’m going to give you lessons in martial arts.  But here’s the thing: no matter how much natural talent you may have, it will still take time before you’re able to actually fight someone without being killed.  That’s why most men spend years learning martial arts, it takes a lot of time to actually be able to use it.  So for now, I’m going to try to get you in top physical condition and then introduce you to some basic katas to use when you’re in trouble.”  Receiving another confused look, Blaise elaborated, “I’m going to have you do some exercises everyday to increase your strength and speed before I actually teach you how to fight.  All the martial arts in the world are useless if you aren’t strong enough to actually use them.”

“I see,” Kaoru said slowly.  “But you said that I couldn’t train in my kimono, Blaise-san.”

“Yeah, it’ll be hard for you to do anything in this thing.  That’s why today is going to be devoted to evaluating you.”

“Evaluating?” Kaoru squeaked.

“Yes, you’re going to do some exercises in front of me that will let me know exactly where your strength and speed stand.  Then I’ll give you a list of exercises to do on your own sometime before we meet up tomorrow.”

“But how will it help if you can’t see it?” Kaoru asked.

“Look, you’re already at a disadvantage by being born a woman,” Blaise said before holding up a hand to stop the brewing rant.  “Yeah, I get it, I’m a pompous ass, just let me finish, alright?  If I bought into that whole women are too weak to fight bullshit, I wouldn’t be here in the first place, now would I?

“But unfortunately, it is a fact that men are stronger than women, it’s just how they’re built.  That’s why women have so much difficulty with traditional martial arts; they don’t have the strength to use them.  But there are some martial arts that rely less on strength and more on speed and agility, something which women have more of than men.  See, all that muscle that men are gifted with makes them heavy, and being heavy makes them slow.  So if you can use your natural speed to your advantage, you can effectively dodge or misdirect their blows and then dart in when they’re exposed.  Following me so far?”

At Kaoru’s tentative nod, Blaise continued, “The problem is though, that even then you still need to gain some strength in order for your blows to be effective; you need to become faster in order to dodge the blows of other; and you need to become more flexible in order to weave in and out of your opponent's defenses.  These things can only be gained by working daily to both increase and maintain them, and that is what the exercises I’m going to give you are for.  But you don’t need me to be there to do them, which is why I want you to do them either before or after we meet so that I’ll be able to measure your progress and then use that progress to train you during our meetings, okay?”

Kaoru nodded once more, with more determination than the last time.  Smiling, Blaise thought,  _ Well, if the mention of all of that effort isn’t enough to send this girl running, she’s obviously got some determination.  Now let’s see if she has enough to actually work for what she wants. _

Blaise watched as Kaoru did several laps of their small clearing followed by some push up and sit ups after Blaise had shown her how to do them.  Ending the session by showing Kaoru some stretches that she should do to keep her muscles limber, Blaise couldn’t help but be slightly impressed by the girl’s physique.  While nowhere near up to scratch in Blaise’s eyes, Kaoru was certainly stronger than most of the first-time trainees that she’d seen in her father’s dojo.  Then again, Blaise supposed that in this era the girls had to do more than just lay around watching TV and chat on their cell phones.

Leaving Kaoru with instructions to do fifty push ups and sit ups each, Blaise hurriedly left the clearing, cursing the fact that she had stayed too long.  If she didn’t start sprinting, there was no way she’d make it to the Shinsengumi in time for practice, and when that was combined with the hell that she’d catch for ditching Susumu, Blaise really didn’t want to think about the punishment that she was going to get.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, the newest chapter of this story is finished. I'm sorry for the wait, it has been a chaotic few months for me, since I had to find a new place to live on short notice and put off school for a year. That being said, now that things have settled down, I hope to be able to write more frequently. Since I'm still pretty busy with my job, my goal is to release a new chapter at least once a month, so long as I have the time and inspiration.

When Blaise finally got back to the Shinsengumi headquarters, even she was amazed by the fuss that was being caused by her disappearing act.   _ Whatever it was that those men were on the other night, the Shinsengumi definitely doesn’t want anyone finding out about it.  How did they get it if not from someone in Japan? Could they have made it themselves? But they don’t strike me as the science types.  Well, maybe Sannan-san . . . _

Shaking off these thoughts, Blaise focused on the scene in front of her.  Now that she was closer, she could hear Hijikata ordering the various captains, all of whom were gathered at the gate, to form pairs and search for her.  Slightly uncertain about whether she should be pleased that she warranted the efforts of their strongest members, or insulted that they believed she would leave Bella, Blaise nevertheless thought that she should probably clue them into her presence before they actually went off in search of her.  Stepping a little closer to avoid raising her voice, Blaise said, “Y’know, if you guys need to form search parties just to figure out I’m here, I’m really worried about the future of the Shinsengumi.”

Rather than being met with any sort of amusement, Blaise was only able to look at the somber faces around her for a moment before they once more formed a unit around her and led her in the direction of what she was quickly realising was their main meeting room.  As she was swept into memories of when she had first been taken to their headquarters, Blaise began to wonder if perhaps she had underestimated how upset the captains would be with her little escapade.

_ If they’re going this far to keep those men a secret, then whatever they’re into has to be hella secret.  Definitely dangerous with how those guys acted when I came across them. But it’s not like there are drug laws in this time period.  Are there? _

Blaise wondered about this for a few moments before realising that things could go very badly for her from here on out.  All of the men surrounding her wore expressions that ranged from worried to resigned to angry in Hijikata’s case. Even Sano, Shinpachi and Heisuke, some of the most happy-go-lucky men she’d met in her life, looked grim.

Once more, Blaise was seated in the center of their meeting room, wondering if they really thought she would leave her sister behind.  Okay, she could admit that maybe they might have believed she’d already done that today, but shouldn’t the fact that she’d come back prove those ideas wrong.

Following that line of thought, Blaise began to wonder where Bella was.  Was she still with Inoue? Or . . .

Forcibly pushing that thought from her mind, Blaise asked, “Excuse me, but where is Bella?”

Surprisingly, considering that she had directed her question towards Kondou, it was Okita who responded.  “You sound awfully concerned about her.”

Barely keeping herself from glaring at the insufferable man - she had enough issues to deal with without letting her distaste show - Blaise responded in what she believed to be a civil enough tone, “Obviously I’m concerned, considering that she’s the only reason I’m here.”

Blaise was actually shocked when she saw anger flash in his eyes.  “So now you’re blaming her for your bad luck.”

Cutting off whatever he was about to say, she snapped, “I never said that.”  Gathering as much calm as she could, Blaise continued. “I simply meant that the only reason I came back after slipping away from Susumu was because Bella is still here in your headquarters.  Or at least, I hope so,” Blaise turned to Kondou with her last sentence.

“Yes, Bella-chan is still being looked after by Gen-san,” Kondou said.

He looked as though he would have continued, but Hijikata had apparently had enough of the small talk.  “The girl is not the matter that we are here to discuss. Explain to us why it is that you abandoned your escort and went around on your own.”

Blaise considered for a moment whether she could still play innocent before realising that she’d already given too much away.  She wasn’t quite sure what it was about Okita, but he never failed to take away her ability to think, and act, rationally. She had planned to at least start this meeting with some kind of bullshit excuse, and then he’d started talking-  Oh wait, now she remembered, it was the fact that he continually used her sister as a means to an end.

Closing her eyes, Blaise forced herself to focus.  And ignore the annoying soon-to-be-dead redhead. Deciding that her best bet was to find out what they had planned, she said calmly, “I had some business to take care of by myself.”

Hijikata drew in and let out a breath before asking, “And that business would be?”

Raising a brow, Blaise stated, “Telling you that would defeat the entire purpose of sneaking away in the first place.”

To this, Hijikata clenched his jaw so hard Blaise was a little surprised she didn’t hear his teeth crack.  Before he could launch into whatever tirade he was obviously building up to, Sannan asked, “And who did you meet with in order to accomplish this business?”

Holding back a snort, Blaise just looked at him, causing an impromptu staring contest to break out between the two.  The two held each other's eyes for a few minutes before Blaise realised that this meeting would never end if things continued this way.  Sighing, Blaise broke eye contact and asked calmly, “Why do you want to know?”

For a second, Blaise thought that Sannan might call her out on her obvious stalling method.  But then Kondou decided to butt back in, “We simply wish to make sure that you didn’t tell anyone about what you saw the other night.  So, if you would simply allow us to verify this, then this business could be put behind us.”

Once more, Blaise found herself staring at a leader of the Shinsengumi, though rather than it being in animosity, this was from shock.   _ Does he really think it’s that simple?  Even if I did do that, Hijikata and Sannan would never trust me again.  And why should they? With the information I’ve given them, they can assume that I promised Kaoru that I would keep our lessons secret.  For me to give that up so easily would translate to me also being unable to keep their secret. _

_ And if I don’t tell them, they’ll have two options: kill me now, or torture me until I talk and  _ then _ kill me.  It’s what I’d do. _

Holding in a sigh, Blaise tried to figure out what to do.   _ Way easier said than done.  I’ve only got two options here, and neither of them look very promising.  If I tell them, I’ll die at a ripe old age in their compound, and if I don’t tell them, I die a whole lot sooner. _

_ Even though I basically planned to go along with the first option until I could escape, it won’t work.  After this stunt, Hijikata and Sannan will never let their guards down enough for me to get out. _

_ Hell, there has to be a third option here.  What can I do without answering them? Fuck around and hope they forget?  That’d work with Kondou, but the rest of them would never let this go. Tell them I don’t give a crap about their secret?  Nope, already tried that. _

Not seeing any other options that had even a slight chance of success, Blaise opened her eyes - when had she closed them? - and tuned back into the conversation.  Only to find it going worse than she had thought.  _ Damn, Sannan works fast.  Gotta derail the interrogation talk.  Quickly. _

_ And how do I do that?  They don’t seem to be in very reasonable moods. _  At that thought, Blaise blinked slowly.   _ Wait, reason.  This whole time, they’ve been going on the assumption that I’ve either been a spy this whole time, or I became one after they caught me.  But logic says that neither of those two things is true. _

Blaise wished she could take a few more minutes to think about what she was about to say, and how it could affect things down the road, but with Hijikata and Sannan quickly selling Kondou on their next course of action, she didn’t exactly have the time.

Clearing her throat, Blaise cut Hijikata off, still finding a small bit of amusement at the irritation that flashed across Hijikata’s face.  “Uh, guys. If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if we could all pretend for a few minutes that the whole world doesn’t revolve around your group and the dirty little secret all of you are hiding.”

“What do you mean, Abe-kun?” Kondou asked, with the most confused look on his face that Blaise had ever seen.   _ Seriously, how old is this guy?  He’s like a child. _

Shaking her head slightly to clear it of thoughts like those, Blaise explained, “Look, since this meeting has started, and pretty much since I met your group as a whole, you guys have been operating under the assumption that I was either spying on you guys the night I ran into Saito-san and Okita, or that I started spying on you after that night.  Correct?” Blaise said the last word almost lazily.

She got about the response that she was looking for from the captains: Sano, Shinpachi and Heisuke looked a little guilty; Saito looked impassive; Kondou looked like a little boy who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar; and Hijikata, Sannan, Yamazaki and Okita looked like they were trying to figure out what she was trying to get out of this.

Blaise took their silence, as telling as it was, as permission for her to continue.  “You guys have been so focused on those two possibilities that I bet you’ve thought of every possible way it could happen.  In fact, the one thing you haven’t thought about is what I would get out of either of those situations.

“Let’s say that I was spying on you that night in the alley.  First off, why would I do that? All of you know that I only want to protect my sister, and spying is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.  If I did spy on someone, either I’d end up getting killed and Bella would never know what happened to me, or someone would follow me back to her and both of us would end up dead.  Additionally, who the hell would I tell? I was in this city for less than a day; I didn’t exactly have the time to become attached enough to a person or cause to risk my life for them, or to even meet up with someone who I could give the information to in the first case.

“Admittedly, the second option has a bit more merit.  I’m not exactly happy that I got dragged in here and am being forced to stay, so yeah, I could see myself spying on you, but even then, what would I get out of it?  I mean sure, there’s the pleasure of seeing the people who have been making my life difficult suffer, but you seem to be ignoring the problems that that scenario would cause for  _ me _ .  Let’s say that today I went out and I told anyone who would listen about those guys I saw and the Shinsengumi as a whole gets in trouble.  Well first off, I’m a member of the Shinsengumi, at least in the eyes of the people, meaning I’d probably get the same punishment as the rest of you; I’d literally be hurting myself at the same time I’m hurting you, and that’s not exactly something that I get off on.  And that would only happen  _ if _ they believed that I actually saw something like that, rather than just assuming that I’m just another nut job.”

Blaise was happy to see the stupefied looks on some of the men’s faces as they thought about what she had said.   _ Looks like I may just get out of this yet. _

And then, in the same way that clouds will always gather before a storm, Okita just had to rain on her parade.  “Oh, but I’m sure that there’s  _ plenty _ of other things that you could tell them about us,” the man practically purred.

Grinding her teeth, Blaise forced out, “Like what?”

“Our security measures, when we change out guards, oh the list just goes on when it comes to someone as observant as you,” he told her with a purr.

_ That little shit _ .  Blaise took a few seconds to fume before she took action to prevent Okita from completely unraveling the progress she had just made.  “Okita-san,” Blaise spat the honorific through gritted teeth, “you seem to be forgetting a very important part to this argument: what I would get out of it.”

Blaise really felt the urge to punch his teeth in as the man just looked at her with an arrogant smirk on his face.  “Well, Abe- _ kun _ , I didn’t mention it because I believed that it would be obvious,” Okita said as though he he was speaking to a small child.  “If you gave them information about our security, then they could launch an attack against us, giving you two things that you want: revenge and freedom.  In a large scale conflict, it would be easy for you to sneak away, and, if the attack was large enough, it could take us several days to sort through all the bodies and realise that you were gone.  Not to mention, the chance that several of us captains could potentially be killed as well.”

“But it would also cost me the thing that I want the most in this world,” she snapped, satisfied by the surprise that she saw in Okita’s eyes.  Forcing down her temper, Blaise turned back to the commanders, knowing that they were the ones who she’d really have to convince. “Look, the reason that I wouldn’t want to give information about your secret away is because I want my sister to be safe, right?  And that is, in case you haven’t noticed, more important to me than some petty revenge.”

At the captains’ hesitant - and grudging, in some cases - nods, Blaise continued.  “So, if I want my sister to be safe, then how would causing a battle to break out  _ right in front of her _ get me what I want?  I mean, sure, if I knew when the attack was coming, I could hide her away in our room without inviting too much suspicion, but what then?  Any halfway decent attackers would know to check all the rooms and odds are at least one of them would attack us, either because they didn’t trust me as a traitor to you guys, or because they simply didn’t recognise me.  And if I tried to sneak away during the attack itself, then I’d definitely be attacked by someone who, either because of a genuine misunderstanding or the heat of the moment, wouldn’t recognise me. Either way, Bella would get dragged into a conflict where she could easily be harmed.  So, there’s no real reason for me to spy on you as long as she is here.”

“That is a valid point,” Sannan conceded, ignoring the almost betrayed look Hijikata sent his way.  “However, it doesn’t prove or disprove anything. If you would kindly tell us your whereabouts from earlier, we could put this whole thing to rest,” he offered calmly.

Resisting the urge to make a snide comment as the man managed to make  all the captains virtually forget about the progress she’d made in less than thirty seconds - damn, did she hate it when he and Okita worked together - Blaise tried to think of a compromise that would make everyone happy.  Ignoring Hijikata’s attempts to get her to speak, she closed her eyes, focusing on everything she knew about the captains of the Shinsengumi and all that she’d told them about herself.

After nearly five minutes, during which Hijikata looked as though he was very close to punching her to get her attention, Blaise slowly drew in a breath and opened her eyes.  “To be clear, all of you who are here trust Su-Yamazaki, correct?”

All of the captains nodded, though Hijikata glared at her, snapping, “I hardly see how that has anything to do with this situation.”

“Quite a bit, actually,” Blaise said, before taking in another deep breath, reminding herself that angry comments and snappy retorts would only make things worse, not better.  Once she felt completely in control of herself, or as close to it as she could come with Sannan and Okita virtually circling her like a couple of sharks waiting for her to make the one mistake that would let them move in for the kill, she calmly explained, “You see, the person that I met this morning, and intend to continue to meet, wishes to keep said meetings private.  However, this person has never said that they only wish for me and them to know about our meetings. As a result, while I believe that they would take issue with the entirety of the Shinsengumi’s command knowing about our meetings, I also believe that they would be amenable to the idea of one other person sitting in on our meetings. In exchange for this concession, I would wish for the person who performs this duty to give me their word that they would not discuss my meetings with anyone who does not take part in said meetings unless he comes to the conclusion that these meetings could somehow jeopardise the safety or integrity of the Shinsengumi.

“Of course this person would have to meet the requirements of both being available at the times when we will be meeting, being loyal enough to the Shinsengumi that you all would believe that he would never turn his back on you, and being honorable enough that I would believe that he would not break his word to me and tell you about my meetings.  As my originally assigned watcher, it is a given that Yamazaki would have the time to watch my meetings, as well as possessing your trust, making him the most logical choice for this assignment.”

“You also stated that he would need to have your trust in order to complete this task,” Sannan stated probingly.

Resisting the urge to fidget, due to both the discomfort of all of the men in the room suddenly staring at her, as well as the uncomfortable realisation that was being forced on her: did she actually, after all that had happened, still trust any member of the Shinsengumi?

For a moment, Blaise considered giving the flippant answer that would most likely end with her getting what she wanted.  But as she was opening her mouth, she realised that her heart was wavering due to Sannan’s question.

Pausing, Blaise focused on everything that she currently thought about the man who may very well be her only chance of teaching her pupil.  She remembered her first day staying with the Shinsengumi, the kinship she had felt with all of them. The sense of betrayal she had felt when, after everything that had occurred, she realised that Susumu had not only listened in on her private conversations, but had also very likely been the one to search through her belongings.

That feeling nearly overwhelmed her, before she recalled the seemingly genuine concern he had shown for her after her nightmare.  Blaise could actually feel her heart being pulled in two directions as she thought about all that had happened in the past week. The rational, wary part of her that had learned over all these years to never trust anyone was telling her to do whatever it took to get away from these people before they betrayed her.

However, the softer, more emotional half, the part that was still a teenage girl that longed for the love of a family and friends, and had been steadily gaining strength and flourishing during her time with the Abes, longed for the feeling of companionship she had naively felt on that first day.  Even though she knew that it was foolish, Blaise couldn’t help but feel that the captains of the Shinsengumi could give her something that no one else had ever been able to give her: understanding. Complete and absolute understanding.

Don’t get her wrong, Blaise knew that the Abes and Bella would both support and defend her to the best of their abilities, and they would listen to and accept any stories of her past that she chose to give.  But they didn’t  _ understand _ .  People like them, who had always lived on the right side of the law, and had never intentionally harmed another human being, simply didn’t know what it was like to kill other people, to torture them, or to turn a blind eye and allow another human being to undergo a fate that may have actually been worse than death.  Sure, they may understand, in an intellectual sense, the reasons that she had for doing the things she had, but they could never truly know the feeling of soul deep self-loathing that came with betraying one’s own conscience, the horror and grief that came with taking another’s life for the first time, the guilt that came with living on comfortably while your victim was either dead or in so much pain that they would prefer the nothingness of death.  Ordinary people had never experienced these things, and so they could not understand them, not truly.

But, right from that first night, when Blaise had been forced to run from Saito and Okita, she had seen it in their eyes, the grim determination to do whatever it took to survive and complete their orders, even if it went against their own sense of honor, or put them in a position where they would become little more than beasts.  And they weren’t the only ones who had that look. All of the captains of the Shinsengumi had that same look in their eyes that Blaise recognised oh so well, because she had seen it in her own eyes far too often, whenever she looked in the mirror after being ordered to do something truly heinous. And it was that exact recognition that made her want to get closer to these men, to treat them as companions, as friends who had gone through hardships similar to her own.

Blaise had known this ever since she first came to the Shinsengumi headquarters, but, up until this moment when she truly had to pay attention to the emotions that she so regularly suppressed, she hadn’t realised how truly overpowering that desire was.  But now that she had realised it, she found herself in an even greater dilemma. Before this revelation, she could easily give them the most convenient answer and not feel even an ounce of remorse. But now that she had hesitated and become aware of her own feelings, it became much more difficult for her to do so, as it would mean that she would have to once more suppress the desires in her heart, something that she had become unaccustomed to doing during her stay with the Abes.

She almost felt these two conflicting desires rip her apart, as the pressure to make a decision pressed down on her, growing increasingly heavy.  As all the events that had happened during her time with the Shinsengumi flashed through her mind, all the tentative bonds formed and the bitter betrayal, other memories started to flood her mind; the memories from early in her career as a bodyguard, back when she was still genuinely shocked that the people she had taken as her comrades would willingly throw her to the wolves for the sake of their own desires; the look of disbelief on the face of every person she had befriended just in order to kill later; the pain in the eyes of those who had lost their loved ones by her hand; and, finally, one last memory came to her, from long before any of the rest.  Blaise remembered her family, not just her parents, but all the rest of the students from her father’s class. She remembered training alongside them, sharing meals with them, the subtle, almost unnoticeable feeling of warmth that she’d felt when she was with them.

As more and more of these happy memories pushed themselves into her mind, the young girl was forced to fight back tears as the pain that they brought her also came back.  And, while Blaise wasn’t certain if she’d really made a decision, about what to do from now on, about the Shinsengumi, or even about herself, she still, spurred on by the memories flashing through her mind, opened her eyes and cutting straight through what Hijikata had been nearly shouting at her, said, simply and calmly, “I am willing to let Yamazaki accompany on my outings, as a consequence of my tacit agreement to follow your rules while I am here.  However, remember that, by having him come with me, you are also agreeing to abide by my conditions.”

For a moment, none of the captains said anything, seemingly stunned by Blaise’s sudden change in attitude, not to mention the fact that all of them had begun to wonder if the boy was somehow rendered mute by their interrogation.  But looking at the determined expression on the boy's be take as he said this, they decided that it would be better not to question him on what he was thinking about, particularly since they knew how unlikely it was that he would be forthcoming.

While the rest of the captains were trying to figure out what was going on in the young man's head at the moment, and three in particular were trying to figure out a way to turn this whole conversation back on him, Kondou spoke up.

“Of course we will honor our word to you.  Both you and Yamazaki-kun are valued members of our unit.  None of us would ever try to break the bond between you.”

Before anyone else could launch in some kind of condition to Kondou’s agreement, Blaise quickly said, “In that case, I will trust that your honor, Kondou-san, will ensure that the terms we've reached will be kept in good faith.”

Watching the frustration cross so many of the men’s faces, Blaise knew that her gamble was correct.  Even those who would like to press Susumu for information, wouldn’t want to do so at the expense of Kondou’s oh-so-sacred honor.  Or at least, they wouldn’t do so as long as she didn’t push the boundaries too far. Blaise knew very well that things like honor and loyalty were easily broken once things were pushed too far, particularly when one of the people involved in such things wasn’t really trusted at all, so she would take care not to toe the line too much, else Susumu would likely decide that his honor didn’t matter in the face of the Shinsengumi’s continued survival.

And in the meantime, she would see whether or not she could really trust these men, or if she would have to forge an escape route.  She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that just because her near-execution had been postponed, it had also been forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but it had to be written in order to advance the plot and Blaise's relationships with the characters, so I decided to write this chapter now so that I could continue writing while I had the time, and then I will go back to edit it later, so please let me know what you guys think I should change, since, while I know the problems that I have with this chapter, I don't know what your problems with be.


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